The Puppetmaster's Strings
by MockingClove
Summary: In the final chapter to the 'Puppetmaster' series, Eden and Dathan ignite the districts to fight back against the Capitol. But President Fraux refuses to go down without a fight. One by one, Panem marches into war to stop the Games. But the Puppetmaster's show must go on, and what a show it will be. The Capitol traps are set, so let the one hundred and first Hunger Games begin!
1. PART I, The Consequences: Home

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Without having a chance to see Araxie, we rush to the car and we're driven straight away from the riots. "Who were you speaking to?", I ask Finnick. He gives me a death stare and nods his head towards the driver. Looks like he doesn't want me to speak. I peer out the window and I watch as the Peacekeepers fire into the crowds, the people dropping dead to the ground. "They're killing them!", I shriek. I hear a click coming from the drivers seat and the door lock in front of me closes up.

When Finnick pulls me back from the window, only then do I realize that I've been banging on it. "Stop them!", I shout. "Be quiet!", he orders. But I don't turn quiet because he told me to; I go quiet because I know that most of the people outside are dead. I struggle in Finnick's grasp to take one more look outside, but I catch a glimpse of alive people being pushed onto a hovercraft.

After about ten minutes when the car stops, Finnick orders us all outside. When I step out, I see a large gate with the words "Victors' Village" written on top. "Ready to see where your going to live for the rest of your lives?", squeals Flinka. Eden says "Sure," but I just nod my head. Finnick enters some sort of password on a screen embedded in the wall and the gates swing open. We step inside the estate and walk down the paved stone pathway. "There's my house," he says, pointing towards the house on the right. "And who is in the house on the left?", asks Eden. "No one," says Finnick. "A woman used to live there named Mags Flurish but she passed away a couple of years ago."

"Anyone in that house?", I ask, pointing to the house with an open door. "Well..", mutters Finnick. "There was a girl named Annie. Annie Cresta." He sniffles and he says "Come on".

"This is your house!", squeals Flinka, not looking at anyone in particular. "Who?", asks Eden. "Both of you!", replies Flinka. "What do you mean?", I ask. "You are both living in the same house," interrupts Finnick. "It's easier." Easier? This seems a bit strange. Victors are supposed to get their own houses. Why do we have to share? "Easier for what?", asks Eden. "Oh forget it!", says Finnick.

We enter the house and we look around for a while. Every time I walk into a hallway, there's another three doors that lead to another hallway. It's massive. Prompa explains to us that a shipment of clothes are scheduled to arrive tomorrow from the Capitol. Let's just hope that they're regular clothes, if that's even possible. Finnick gives Eden and I a key each that were left on the kitchen table and tells us that they unlock both the front door and the back door. There's a back door? When Eden starts to investigate upstairs and when Finnick, Prompa and Flinka all leave, I lock the door behind them and I head into the kitchen.

I unlock the back door and I'm out in an expansive garden containing me in by hedge walls. There's beautiful types of flowers covering every spot of the grass and there's a lone tree in the top left corner, it's curved branches only on the right side. This is the first time I can actually take in a breath of fresh air since coming out of the Games. I never wanted any of this mayhem. It was all to kill Ole. It was all part of the Games. It's not my fault. It's the Capitol's fault. It was part of their own idea. And now Eden and I are both stuck in between all the trouble. I just want to see Araxie. I want to see Leith. I want to see my mother. I want to go home.

The peacefulness is interrupted when I feel a vibration run throughout the ground. I fall backwards onto the steps leading outside and the rumble stops. I don't need to know what it was to know that it was dangerous. Probably some sort of explosive at the riots, but it could be anything. Whatever it was, I know that if I had won the Games without chopping down the beanstalk, I wouldn't have felt it.

* * *

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

"Did you feel that?", asks Dathan, surprising me when he walks behind me in the bathroom. "I did," I reply. "What do you think it was?". He guesses that it was something that blew up in the riots, but it can't be. The train station is quite a while away and the Victors' Village is about ten minutes away from the square. It was something closer.

Dathan and I claim our rooms out of the six of them in the house. That's when I hear the doorbell. "I'll get it," I say. "No," says Dathan. "We'll both get it." We cautiously creep down the stairs and unlock the door. Standing on the red mat outside is Finnick. "I've got news". I lock the door and he brings us into the living room. Plonking down on the sofas he begins to speak.

"The Capitol are planning some sort of announcement in fifteen minutes," he says. "About what?", I ask. "Not sure," he replies. "Could be anything. We better hope that it's good."

I head into the kitchen and I grab three apples from the fruit bowl, giving one to Dathan and Finnick. It tastes perfect. When we were on the train, in the Capitol and in the Games, the food tasted unnatural. Even the water. Almost like the Capitol was putting different chemicals in them. I haven't really had proper food since I was back home. It just makes me feel a bit more comfortable within this crazy world. I stare at the clock on the wall, watching as the hand moves every second. It's almost time. Dathan and Finnick have been chatting, but I've totally blanked out. All I'm doing is staring at the clock. _Tick tock. Tick tock._

The black television screen propped up on the wall comes to life and the camera focuses on some sort of stage. Fraux walks out from behind the curtains and sits on a throne placed on the middle of the stage. "Citizens, today I address all of Panem as one," he begins, his deep voice echoing out from the television.

"Since the Dark Days, Panem has been filled with peace and joy, brought to you by the Hunger Games. As you all know, the second rebellion shattered the peace. But not for too long, for we have rebuilt our nation and ridded of the rebels. Unfortunately, that's what we thought. As you watched in the Quarter Quell, the victors have inspired more uprisings. More riots. More deaths."

All of us freeze and we glare at the screen. "Understanding about what these tributes were thinking, they shall be pardoned of their actions." The tension in the room settles, but only a bit. Finnick is still leaned forward and he looks even more frightened. "He's lying!", he shouts.

"However, earlier today there have been riots in District 4 as the victors were arriving home. The people who were rioting have been inspired by the victors' actions, and they shall not go unpunished," continues Fraux. The camera cuts to a sunny setting that's familiar. The train station comes into view with the words "District 4" painted on the sides. A huge hovercraft hovers above in the blue sky and tons of holes begin to open up on the bottom.

"Any puppets who try to fight back against their own Puppetmaster..." Fraux's voice booms. Suddenly, people with nooses around their necks are dropped out from the holes and are left dangling in the air, struggling to breathe.

"...be prepared to face the consequences."

* * *

**Welcome to The Puppetmaster's Strings! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! If you did or didn't, please leave a review if you have time! I can't wait to start telling this story because it's going to be a unique one! This first chapter was kind of short because I was only setting up some new locations, and as you read in Eden's POV, I was trying to dig deeper into the plot with Fraux. If you haven't read my first story, I recommend that you read it before you read this one as it will have a lot of references :)**

**Anyways, thank you all so much for reading and I hope you read the next chapter! Byeeee :)**


	2. Returning

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

The shot of the hanging bodies lingers on the screen for a full minute after Fraux signs off and I recognize two of the people. Before I get the chance to see who they are, the screen cuts to the Capitol logo, then complete darkness. "He's lying," says Finnick, trying to calm himself down. "Do you really think that he's going pardon you both? Don't you remember the poisoned drinks at the party?". Finnick's definitely right. Fraux _must _be lying. He's kept so quiet about the incident in the arena. It's almost like he's been coming up with a plan to kill us all this time. "Hanging citizens of District 4 live on television isn't going to make anyone settle down. It's only going to make the riots worse," says Dathan. Finnick just nods his head, leans back into the sofa and huffs.

I manage to flee the tension in the room and I sprint up the stairs. Glaring out the window, I vaguely see a hovercraft shooting up into the sky in the distance, the bodies being reeled back up into the holes. I'm normally not upset by deaths, not even deaths in my family. But for what has just taken place only a few minutes away from me makes me collapse to my knees and bawl my eyes out. This is what they do? Could they not do something else to the rebels? Lock them up in prison? No, instead they must execute them. This is only going to make matters worse. The main problem though is the fact that Dathan and I are the brunt of this situation. Why didn't they kill us instead? The Capitol probably thought that our deaths would cause even more violence. Little do they know that no matter who they kill at this stage, the fighting will increase no matter what.

Dathan must have heard me sobbing, because he suddenly shouts up the stairs "Eden? Are you okay?". I call out "I'm fine," but whenever someone says that, that pretty much tells you that they're not. I hear the footsteps so I instantly stumble into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. "Eden? What's wrong?", asks Dathan. I see his shadow under the door. "Nothing's wrong," I croak, my voice cracking in between the words. "Just leave- just leave me alone." The shadow vanishes and I hear his footsteps slowly going away.

I look around the bathroom and I admire everything in here. Everything seems so clean and modern. The toilet seat flaps up the minute I walk past it and it shuts when I'm far away from it. I cup my hands together and I scoop up some hot water from the tap, pouring it down my face to wake me up. When I walk towards the bath to sit on the edge, the toilet seat lifts open again and I remember something important; it was made in the Capitol. The room starts to close in on me and I begin to see the faces of the guests at Fraux's dinner party, chuckling away offering me some sort of fancy food while others hawk at me with their soulless eyes. Escaping from the evil that's not really there, I unlock the door and run across the hallway to my bedroom.

I jump and land face up on the silk covers, staring up at the white ceiling. With no distractions to remind me of the Capitol, I doze off into a sweet dream. My mother, Amity, Blathe and Allegra are all there. Sitting in the living room watching the Hunger Games, Blathe winces when the gory bits come on while Allegra covers her eyes. It's only now that I realize how disgusting I was while watching the Games. I always used to think the Games were a great idea. I was always on the Capitol's side. 'The Games bring us together like a community,' said President Snow when he was alive. Then I used to think the same. Now that I've been through the experience, I know how horrible it was. Sending twenty-four kids to go fight until one remains every single year? And they think that the rebels are bad? Panem needs a change.

I slowly peer my eyes open, and when I finally feel okay to have a chat without breaking up, I head downstairs. Finnick and Dathan are still both sitting on the sofas in silence. "How long since I went upstairs?", I ask to the two. "About thirty minutes," says Dathan. "Well, Finnick," I begin, his head turning to look at me. "When can we go visit our families?", I ask. "You are both free to leave whenever you want," he says. That's when I realize that we're not under the Capitol's control anymore. We're not on the train, we're not in the Tribute Center and we're not in the Games. I'm back in the real world. Finnick brings me to the phone on the wall in the kitchen and I organize to meetup with my family for the night. My mother pulls up in her green car outside the gates to the Victors' Village and I wave goodbye to Finnick and Dathan. When they go back into our house and shut the door, I know it's safe to hug my mother.

"What's happened while I've been gone?", I ask. But she's too emotionally distraught to answer. Instead she just nods her head. "Allegra- she misses you," she chokes. "What about Amity and Blathe?", I ask. She just waves her hand and orders me into the car. The drive is around fifteen minutes and we eventually pull up to our house. Compared to my new home, it's pathetic. It's tiny, the windows are smudged and the white paint is chipped. As I step out of the car, all the memories flow through my brain. All the times Allegra, Blathe and I played tag out in this small patch of grass that we call 'the garden' while Amity looked out the window at us, refusing to play because it was "for babies". The front door swings open and Allegra is suddenly wrapping her arms around me. She sobs loudly and she soaks my blouse with her tears. "I love you," she whispers into my ear.

We step into the dining room and I can already smell what's cooking. "Lasagna! Oh mother, you do know how to please me," I joke. But she looks at me funnily. "No, it's cod," she says. Then I smell the fried bacon that we always made every Saturday morning. Every good memory is coming back to me instantly. My mother and I sit down at the table while Allegra scurries into the kitchen. "The girl wanted to make the dinner tonight because you're finally home. Bless her heart," my mother whispers. "It's nice to have one job off my back." Then when I ask her where Blathe and Amity are, she falls silent. The tears begin to fill her eyes and I know that something's wrong. "What happened while I was gone?", I ask. Then we both hear Allegra's footsteps. "I'll tell you later," she sniffles. Allegra places two full plates down in front of us. On them are a piece of cod each and a few peas. "You're going to be a great chef when you're older," I say to her. She smiles, goes back into the kitchen and comes out with her own plate. We all silently eat away at the meal and I begin to feel home again. But the question is still bouncing around in my brain: Where are Blathe and Amity?

When Allegra goes upstairs to finish off her '5th Hunger Games' assignment for her class, I finally ask my mother the question again. "Where are Blathe and Amity?". It takes her a moment to speak. "Gone," she says. "Gone where?", I ask. "Let me explain," she begins, straightening up on her seat. "We were all there at the train station, waiting for you to arrive." Then I know exactly where this conversation is going. "Then crowds of angry people began to attack the Peacekeepers. The guns started firing so we started to run. Allegra and I escaped."

Not holding back, I just say the answer out loud. "Blathe and Amity were shot." My mother shakes her head and continues. "They were captured." Now I really know what happened. "I watched the broadcast earlier today," I interrupt. "I spotted them. They were hung." We spend the next few hours holding onto each other crying, trying not to let Allegra hear us. My mother tells me that she knows but she's able to stay strong. But we can't at all. When Allegra's footsteps stop from upstairs, we peek into her room to see her sleeping on top of her copies and books. Without another word, my mother says "Goodnight" and we both go into our rooms. Once again, the memories of being in this bedroom come back to me, but I'm too upset to look around. Getting into bed without changing into lighter clothing, I simply take off my shoes and fall asleep. "We're dead. Help us. Save us," are the words that keep haunting my dreams. I try to open my eyes but I can't; their sealed shut. Their faces swirl around in the darkness and begin to scream. I try to reach out to them but it's no use. All I'm hoping for is that when I wake up, I'm still on the train and that none of this ever happened.

* * *

**And so ends the second chapter! Yes yes, I know: Dathan had no POV. I will be doing some chapters like this because sometimes having two POVs will take away from the emotion. This chapter was practically perfect for Eden so having Dathan's POV would have taken away from it a bit.**

**I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! Don't forget to favorite and follow this story so you can get updates every time I post a new chapter! Also, please vote in the poll on my profile for my Super Smash Bros story! It's important because I'll be starting that one after I finish this. **

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	3. Hidden Secrets

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

I wake up and have a fried egg with a sausage for breakfast. Eden should be coming back soon, jumping with joy after seeing her family again. Today, it's time for mine. Instead of going back home, I've arranged for them to come over here. Watching as the hands on the clock slowly tick by, I await for the time to come. I hear the doorbell and I rush into the front hall. They can't be here already.. I open the door to see Finnick standing there with a grin. "Good morning," he says. I invite him in and we settle down at the kitchen table. "Eden here yet?", he asks. I shake my head. "At least my family is coming over," I say. "Indeed," replies Finnick, running his fingers through his golden-brown hair. "Hope it goes well."

I'm suddenly alert when I hear a light tapping sound echoing throughout the bare kitchen. Finnick stops playing with his hair and raises his head. "Hear that?", he whispers. I nod. Then it gets louder. I scan the kitchen to try to spot the source, but I just can't see anything but the clear white surfaces. It's only when I see something's reflection on the shiny marble floor that I finally know what it is. I tilt up and stare at the window, watching as a black bird taps it's beak against the glass. "Don't," mutters Finnick lowly, not even finishing off the rest of the sentence. "It's only a bird," I say loudly, walking towards the window. "Stop!", yells Finnick, but I don't follow his orders.

I flick my finger against the glass and I watch as the bird jumps backwards on the ledge outside, it's feathers stiffening up. But I suddenly feel a shard of glass impale my left arm and the whole window shatters down on top of me. I've just enough time to spot the arrow but I'm knocked back onto the ground. The impact hurts my knees and I hear a squawk screech from above me. I hear Finnick's cries of anxiety as I see his legs moving towards me. The specks of glass drop from my back onto the ground when I begin to get back up and I know that something bad has just happened. Next thing I know, Finnick's hand is on my shoulder and in his other is a bow.

"Where did you get that?", I ask. "No time," he says, pushing me to the side. "It could be still alive. We need to put it out of it's misery." I try to question him but he keeps ignoring me. I see a glare in his hands, and when my eyes finally focus, I see the sharp knife that he's wielding and he pushes the drawer close. "What are you doing?!", I yell. "Shush!", he urges. But it's too late to lay down towels or tissue paper, because within a second, he pulls the bird from outside on the ledge and drops it onto the kitchen top, beginning to hack away at it and staining the clean surfaces with blood. I try to pull on his arm, but he knocks me back with a blow to the face with his elbow and continues on. Electric sparks begin to burst out when Finnick lands a hit on the bird each time. It's almost like the bird is a robot. Chunks of meat and metal fall off the side of the counter with a drop of blood landing on my chin. After half a second of wiping it off, Finnick drops the knife and stares at me.

"Why?", I whisper. I've never seen Finnick this violent before. He's always so calm and charming. Now he's a vicious killer. "Jabberjay," he says. I have to ask him to repeat, making sure I've heard it right. "Jabberjay. A Capitol muttation; used in the first rebellion to spy on the rebels." I stare at him puzzled, and he must know that I'm confused because he continues. "They can record messages." Maybe it was a regular bird. Maybe it was a jabberjay. But whatever it was, it's dead now.

It's not until I spot the bow lying on the floor that I ask him about it again. He simply places a finger on his lips and silently shushes me. He picks up the bow and I watch as a hidden compartment on the wall opens up, a neon blue color shining out from the lights inside. He places the bow into a perfectly suited cutout and the wall seals back up. I try to get a word out, but all I get out is a small noise because he interrupts me. "Speak about that and you'll be dead."

I sit in the living room with Finnick in dead silence, thinking about everything that just happened. The jabberjay makes sense. Fraux definitely sent that jabberjay out to us on purpose. He wants information. He wants to know what we're thinking. It just makes me more and more nervous for what is to come in the future. And for that bow hidden in the wall, I don't even know what to think about that. How did Finnick know about it? What was it there for? Who put it there? Why is he so secretive about it? And most importantly, why didn't he tell Eden or I about it?

I hear the doorbell ring once more so I sprint out towards the door. Unlocking the latches, the fresh mahogany is filled in my face and the thud hits my nose. I stumble back and I see Eden brush past me up the stairs. "What was that about?", I scream at her, but then I see the tears streaming down her face. I shut the door and Finnick jumps out from the living room door. "What happened?", he asks. I shrug my shoulders. "It's Eden. She's crying", I say. Both of us running up the stairs, we charge into her room to see her face buried in her pillows. "What's wrong?", I ask gently, but one of the pillows is sent in my direction and hits the wall. "Get the hell out!", she roars, her voice gargling and cracking. I try to comfort her, but her cries turn into screams of agony and I know that something terrible is wrong.

Once again, I hear the doorbell boom around the house. "Third times a charm," jokes Finnick. And I know what he's talking about; my family must be here. I order him to stay up here with Eden and I shut the door behind me. When I open the front door, I finally see all of my family including Araxie and Leith. I dive into the crowd and we form a huge group hug. "We called Araxie and Leith immediately after we organized meeting up," my mother explains, but I try not to listen to the rest of her blabbering as Araxie leans in for a kiss.

I usher them all into the living room and I shut the door, trying to block out Eden's screams from upstairs. We all try to start a conversation, but the fact of finally being together is too much and we all begin to tear up. "What has happened while I was gone?", I ask them all. "Snow has died, but you probably already know that," says my father. "Anything else?", I ask. "Well, you probably know just as much as we do," says Leith. And that makes perfect sense, because we all know nothing.

* * *

_"Yovar?", Fraux calls out as the tall wooden doors to his office open. In steps his assistant, shutting the massive structures behind him. "I knew it was you," says Fraux, tugging on his greasy black hair. "Do you have any updates on the jabberjay?". Yovar gulps down the lump in his throat. "Our connection with the bird has been lost. However, our cameras on the bird have caught footage of Finnick Odair shooting an arrow at it." The room falls completely silent, but not for long as Fraux begins to straighten up in his seat, the chair creaking and squeaking. _

_"Well then," he says calmly, almost too calmly. His licks his puffy lips with moist tongue. "People have always payed for their actions in Panem. For this occasion, this is no different."  
_

* * *

After a about an hour of chatting, only then does the idea of making tea pop into my brain. I head into the kitchen and begin to fill kettle with water. It's almost like being home again, except I'm not. I'm still being closely watched. How long will his go on for? Surely it can't be forever. The memories of the arena begin to flash in my brain, hearing each of the twenty two cannons again. But there's another one that shoots off. Only twenty two of the tributes died. Two won; both me and Eden. Why is there another one banging off? Then I come back out of my daydreams and I hear the banging again. The noise is real. The marble walls begin to faintly glow red and I know that something is up.

I hear the footsteps storming down the stairs and both Eden and Finnick crash into the kitchen. "Follow me," pants Finnick. He grabs my arm and pulls into the closet door beside the spot where the bow was hidden. "What's happening?", I ask, but he places his hand over my mouth. With his free hand, he pulls some sort of tiny remote out of his jacket pocket and hits the only button on it. Shiny and red, it makes a click and I suddenly feel a vibration in the ground. This time, Eden asks what's happening and he finally answers. "The Capitol. They're coming," he says. "They're sending hovercrafts."

I don't need any more information to know that this is bad. "Bombs," I whisper. Finnick just nods his head and the vibration in the ground increases. "My family!", I shriek. "They're not-", but it's too late. The ground opens up beneath us and we're sent into an aqua blue glowing tube into the depths beneath the house. I hear loud noises coming from above and grey smoke begins to shoot down after us. We land on our rears and we slide down the tunnel. Either I'm dreaming this or I've completely lost it and gone mental. But if this is real, it doesn't make any sense.

The tube begins to flatten and the roof begins to rise up and we're all suddenly landed on comfortable mats. I look forward to see a huge steel door that seems to have no handles. "What's happening?!", screams Eden, but Finnick doesn't answer. Instead, he bangs on the door and screams as the smoke from the surface begins to fill the air. Coughing hardly and barely able to see from the dust, I rush over to Finnick. The door opens up and I fall inside into a cool and bright room. A cold breeze washes over me and I'm about to tilt my head up, but I feel a needle inject into my back and my eyes seal shut.

* * *

**Ummm... What did you all think of that chapter?! It was quite crazy so I hope that you understood most of it. But for the ending, my purpose is to leave you completely confused. What just happened?! Find out in the next chapter ;)**

**Also, I'd like to say sorry for being so late on updating. Any reasons? Well, I was completely exhausted from writing. No no no! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE writing, but it can be stressful as it takes me hours and hours to write one chapter. So for me doing chapters every single day can be quite crazy. I've been doing a chapter every single day while writing The Puppetmaster's Game and I've only taken a few breaks very rarely, so I think you can understand somewhat. Any other reasons? I don't really think this is a good reason, but I'll include it for the LOLs. I'm irish and it was St. Patrick's day the other day so... can I be excused? LOL.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please drop a review! And if you have time, please vote in my Super Smash Bros. poll. And I want to clear this up: I will not be writing a third story in this series. Why? I just don't have enough ideas. I certainly do have SOME ideas for a third story, but I just don't have enough as most of them are going to be in this story. What am I going to do with those useless ideas for a third story? I'm going to put them into this one. Now hold your horses! You might think that it won't feel great and that it could feel a bit out of place, but the ideas will only make this story ten times better.**

**As always, thank you all so much for reading. Byeeeee :)**


	4. Another New Life

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

My eyes flash open and I clutch onto the steel bars attached to either side of my bed. I gasp when I see visions of Araxie being blown to bits in my living room but it all comes to a stop when Finnick sprints over to me. "It's okay," he whispers, gently lowering my head back onto the pillows. "We're safe now." After trying to speak but coughing harshly, I finally choke out the question. "What happened?".

He drags over a wooden stool from the corner of the room and props himself up on it beside my bed. "Fraux sent hovercrafts to bomb us, but he didn't know that we were prepared. He's not a smart president," says Finnick. "Where are we?", I croak. "Underground," he continues. I try to crawl out of the bed, but he orders me to stay put. "What's so secretive?", I ask. "Nothing's secretive. At least not now," he says. At least not now? What does that mean? He knows something important. "What about my family?", I whisper, my voice breaking. He hesitates. "All the houses in the Victors' Village have been destroyed." He doesn't want to say it. I know what happened to them. They're dead.

I spring out of the bed and I charge towards the door, Finnick yelling at me to stop. But I refuse. I pull on the handle and I'm out into a tall cylindrical room with a spiral staircase looping upwards. The iron walls send off a cold feeling and a shiver shoots up my spine. Looking upwards, I spot some sort of balcony peering out from the wall in front of me leading to some sort of hallway. I feel Finnick's hand wrap around my wrist and he whispers into my ear. "You're not sane enough to know about this," he says. Just before I'm pulled back inside, I manage to catch a glimpse of large bold letters written on the walls reading "_U-D4."_

"What's out there?!", I shriek. "You're not ready, nor is Eden," he says. But this time, he's not dragging me towards the bed. He's dragging me towards the cream wall. Hitting a button on his wrist watch, the wall opens up revealing a tiny cubical. I try to fight back against his grasp, but he's too strong. He shoves me inside and the wall begins to seal back up, leaving me in complete darkness. I feel like I'm rising upwards, or maybe I'm just going insane, but soon enough the floor drops beneath me and I'm dropped into a glass box filled with steam. It blocks my throat and my nostrils and I try to take one last breath, but I can't. I spot Finnick still in the room behind the glass in front of me and I try to bang for help. Instead, he just nods his head and tries to mouth me something. If I'm correct, the thing I think he says is "It will be okay."

The room, alongside Finnick both shatter into tiny specs leaving an empty black space. I feel like I'm floating and I begin to see my family. "We are good," says Araxie in an unnatural voice, almost like she's a robot. "Now we are dead." I try to reach out for her, but she's pulled away and screams my name. "Now you can fill in and do good," she says. Her drifting body is soon out of sight, but I feel a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, I see the massive beanstalk falling down towards me. I try to run, but I can't. I'm as still as brick. However, the force field protects me and stops the beanstalk from crashing down onto me. Then I realize that I'm not in the arena; I'm on the outside.

"Prepare to face the consequences," Fraux's voice echoes in the darkness. I feel my left arm being tugged and it's tossed into the air. Then goes my right. Then goes my whole body. The strings continue to pull my limbs around and flail me in thin air. Looking up, I see the sharp-nailed fingers of Fraux pulling on the strings. Then I hear his malicious laugh. "Fight back", I hear a voice whisper. I look around in the darkness, but I see no one. "You can do it!", the voice shouts. I recognize it. It's Finnick. His godlike face appears in my brain and the image of the room begins to come back to me. I place my hands on the glass and I watch as Finnick encourages me. The bed. The door. The button on the wall; I've just been here.

"Fight your fears and they will soon fear you," he says. Automatically without control of myself, I'm pulling on the strings and I watch as Fraux falls from the sky and hits the ground. The thud is loud and I know that he cannot be saved. He twitches around on the floor for a moment, but then he turns totally still. I've just killed him. The tips of the strings fall down below me and I'm not dangling anymore. I'm falling. Just like Fraux, I smack against the ground, but I can't move at all. My eyes are still open, but my body's not allowing me to move. I try to scream, but I can only hear my cries on the inside. Thinking I'm going to be left in an eternal death state, I fall forward and hit the stone cold ground.

"Come here," says Finnick loud and clear, offering me his hand. He helps my stand to my feet and I immediately ask him "What just happened?". After shutting the glass door and watching as it lowers into the ground, only to be replaced by the stone wall, he begins to answer my question. "The gas was called proxonium. We used it to help clear your mind. Help inspire you," he explains. "Who is 'we' and inspire me for what?", I ask. "Well, I better not tell you what to inspire you for. It could change your mind if I tell you. Also, for 'we', I was referring to the doctors," replies Finnick. "What doctors?", I ask. There's an odd silence in the room. Finnick must know that I'm at the breaking point. He's hiding something from me and I'm just about to find out what it is. "What doctors?", I repeat. "The doctors of U-District 5."

It takes me a moment to register that statement in my head. I'm about to ask him what he's talking about, but he answers my question without me even asking it. "U-District 5 stands for Underground District 5, but some rebels want it to stand for United District 5. But for me, I-"

"U-District 5?", I say. "Yes, I said that before," jokes Finnick. "The Capitol don't even know about us."

* * *

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

Both Dathan and Finnick charge through the door and into my room. "He's been tested," says Finnick. I instantly jump from the bed and fall into Dathan's arms. "Don't worry. They did the same thing with me. I feel so much better," I explain. "What did you see?", he asks me. "Well, I saw Amity and Blathe," I say. Dathan doesn't reply so I continue. "They died during the train station attack." Trying to lift up the mood again, Finnick decides that he wants to give us a tour of 'U-District 5.'

We leave my room and Dathan tells me that his is right beside mine. "We don't have much, but there are eleven others so that makes up," says Finnick. "What do you mean?", I ask. "Well, there's a U-District for each and every District in Panem." Seems weird. Finnick shows us the tiny canteen that has a few seats and the meeting room for the high officials. As victors, we've been given access to be involved in every important discussion in here. "And there are some rebels here too. Around three hundred," says Finnick. "All of them are in their bunkers."

"How did they get here? Through our house?", I ask. "Not at all. Down into the Justice Building storage room and into the hidden sewers. After searching through doorways and tunnels, they eventually made their way here. I led them here in groups occasionally." Finnick tells us that that is basically it. Staying in the large meeting room and sitting down at the long table, Dathan and I wait as Finnick makes an announcement over the intercoms.

"Could everyone part of the U-District 5 Rebel Squad please come to the meeting room now, please. Thank you."

"Who are they?", asks Dathan. "I'm part of the squad. We're the people who founded U-District 5. Only Crimette and I are the people who actually we're part of founding the actual system of the U-Districts," says Finnick, sitting down on the chair beside me. "And Crimette is?", I say. "Making her way here," jokes Finnick. Within a minute or two, three men and one woman all pile in through the door and sit down at the table. "Welcome to all," says Finnick. "Good evening President Odair," they all chant. "President Odair?", says Dathan. Finnick just winks at him.

"I have gathered you all to introduce you to Eden O'Shea and Dathan Lynn. Also, I'd like to inform you on the events that have taken place a few hours ago," he begins, stroking his golden hair lightly. "As you know from the warning that Crimette had given you," he continues, pointing towards the young woman with long blonde hair, "the Capitol had sent air troops to bomb the Victors' Village. Fortunately, our fantastic vice president warned you all with enough time to flee with being injured." Everyone begins to clap so Dathan and I chime along while Crimette blushes. "I have done the proxonium tests on Dathan and Eden and I can confirm that neither are complete just yet."

"Complete?", I say, everyone starting to stare at me. "If they are not complete, why are they allowed to be here?", asks a middle aged man with spiked black hair, twirling his thin beard around his index finger. "Well..", Finnick says, sweat forming across his forehead. "They're not stable. Get them out," says another man. "But-", Finnick tries to say. "Get them out!". Everyone begins to chant the phrase and Finnick has no option but to escort us to our rooms. What is all this for? Why are we here? What do they mean when they say we're not 'complete'? I want the answers now, but I know I won't get them. Whenever Finnick comes back, whenever 'President Odair' comes back, I will not lay back on the questions.

* * *

**And so your queries have been answered... sort of. Why is there a society hidden away underneath each of the Districts? What are they planning? Find out soon.. hehe :)  
****I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! Don't forget to favorite and follow this story too. And if you have time, please vote in my Super Smash Bros. poll too!**

**Thank you all so much for reading this chapter and I hope you continue to read the whole story up until the end! Thank you all so much, byeeeeee :)**


	5. Recovery

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

The visions of Fraux looming over my shoulders are defeated when I shoot an arrow straight through his head. I fall forward and I hit the stone cold floor with a thud. "You were more relaxed this time," says Finnick. "Well done. Session two with the proxonium has been a success!". He pulls me up off the floor and I collapse into his arms. "I killed him", I whisper into his ear. "Who?", he whispers back, chuckling afterwards. I manage to faintly choke the name out. "Fraux." Instead of replying, he's silent for a moment and releases himself from my grasp. "You killed him..", he says. I nod. "Not already," he says, a distressed tone in his voice. "What's wrong?", I ask. "This is bizarre," he says, shaking his head and looking down at the ground. "You're ready."

I ask him what I'm ready for, but all I get is "Shush." Then he brings up Dathan. "But he's still incomplete," says Finnick. "Incomplete for what?", I ask. "It doesn't matter!", he moans. Then within an instant, the door slams shut, but not before he says "I'm going to see Dathan. Stay here, I'll be back." Ever since I got out of the Games, Finnick has been acting strange. All the clues have led to this. The "U-Districts". Anytime I try to ask questions, I'm ignored. After being kicked out of the Meeting room, I waited for around an hour before Finnick came back to my room. Then I was tossed into the proxonium cubical again without being allowed to ask questions. Now I'm here, furious as ever. I need some sort of breath of fresh air. I never wanted any of this.

Besides, why am I here? What do they want from me? What are they up to? There's just too many questions that I have. I wonder what they mean about Dathan and I not being "complete". Dathan.. I head towards the door and I enter the large room with a seemingly never ending roof that Finnick calls "the Hub". I tiptoe to the left to Dathan's room, a large echo booming around each step I take. It's almost like I'm stomping. I peer through the keyhole and I see Finnick with his hands pressed up against the proxonium tub windows, trying to speak to Dathan. "You can do it!", he cheers, but I sense an uncertainty in his voice. It's hard to see at the angle, but I manage to barely make out Dathan panicking. Then I notice that his eyes are open broadly. He's not being affected by the gas.

Without thinking, I place my hand on the doorknob and I'm about to open it, but Finnick will order me back. Who knows; he could lock me in. I'll only cause more stress. I retract and I go back to looking through the keyhole, but now Dathan's pounding on the glass. "No! Help me!", I barely hear him scream in terror through the glass, almost like he's being chased by a murderer. "It's okay!", Finnick tries assure him, but he's not listening. He's obviously seeing the visions that the gas makes him see, but his eyes aren't shut so it must not be working. That only means one thing: he's going crazy. This time, I don't care about the consequences. I fling the door open just as Finnick hits a button on the wall, the glass opening up letting Dathan free.

"Dathan!", I shriek, running towards him, but he Finnick pushes me back, then he proceeds to keep him down onto the bed. Struggling, he manages to hit a button on his watch which sends a storm of people into the room. "He needs help," pants Finnick as the white uniformed men take over. Carrying the insane boy out of the room, Finnick glares at me. "What did I tell you?", he asks sternly. "I heard the screams. I was scared," I lie. "That doesn't mean-", Finnick tries to say but I interrupt him. "What are you doing to us?!", I shout. "Listen, sweetie," he says, gingerly walking towards me. "If you follow my orders and rules, you won't end up like him." But I shout back at him again. "He never broke any of your rules, you twat!". It's not until I feel his soft hair in my hand that I know I've took a step too far. Immediately, I jump back and touches the spot that I yanked. "I'm sorry," I say calmly. "I wasn't even thinking.. I... I-"

"You just attacked me," he says. I don't know how to respond, so I just say "Yes," then I begin to chuckle. "I'm not sure whether you're just not ready or if you're just very vicious," he says. Once again, this time in a respectful tone, I ask him the question again. "Ready for what?". He huffs and walks towards me. "You'll know soon. In fact, you'll know by tomorrow afternoon." We both leave the room and he locks the door with a key that he has hidden. "Don't tell Dathan," he whispers. "After that fiasco, he probably won't know what I'm talking about," I joke. He must have a key to my room too...

"It's getting late. I suggest you get some rest," he says. "I want to come with you," I say. Puzzled, he asks me where, but I'm not stupid; he knows that I know that he's going to see Dathan. "I'm going to see him. Where are they keeping him?", I ask. "Hold on!", he growls. "You need to listen to me. Get some rest." I try to barge past him, but he holds me back. "Finnick," I say sweetly, "I could help him." He pauses and ponders for a moment. "I spent the entire time in the arena with him. Not you. I know him better," I say. I can tell that he's thinking about letting me see him, so I try to persuade him more. "He needs me." Finnick takes in a deep breath and says "Alright."

Bringing me up the spiraling staircase into the unexplored hallway, Finnick escorts me past long windows. Looking through the glass, I see a dozens of people in black uniforms eating away at bread and soup in the canteen. "The citizens," says Finnick. Then I spot one man dropping the spoon from his hand when he spots me, his jaw dropping. I can't hear him through the glass, but he mouths something and stands up, pointing at me. All the heads turn around and look at me. "They've been dying to see you both. At least they've got you to see," says Finnick, but as he finishes off the sentence, I can barely hear him say the last few words as the cheers and claps pound through the glass. "They're very loud," I say, watching as they rush over towards us. This hallway seems to be elevated up so we're looking down at them, and I could almost guarantee that if we were on ground with them, they would have smashed through the window. The jump and scream, smiles on their faces, but Finnick carries on ahead. I follow him and we arrive at a huge steel door. "No looking," Finnick says. Then a holographic keypad with numbers one to nine appear on the doors. I twist my head around for a moment and I hear a click. "Let's go," he says.

I turn back around to see the doors wide open, revealing a large room with one or two nurses scurrying around. The moment we walk inside, the heat hits me. My room was absolutely freezing so feeling warmth is so nice. "Only got one injured," says Finnick. Then I look along a row of empty beds until I see one spot being sealed off by curtains. "He got slashed with a knife during the sleeping hours. Let this be a warning to you Eden: always lock your door and never make enemies here," says Finnick. "So what did you do with the attacker?", I ask. "Well, we couldn't have him down here since he's dangerous and we couldn't leave him back up on the surface," replies Finnick. "Why not?", I ask. "He was crazy. He would have told everyone about us down here," Finnick explains, but he doesn't tell me what they done to him. I don't bother to ask him what happened to him because I can already guess..

We pass through the quiet room, around the main desk to be greeted by a brunette woman. Entering another code into a steel door at the back of reception, we enter a hallway that's made of steel. We walk in dead silence, the only noise is the sounds of our footsteps on the metal. Once again, we're faced with another door, but I already have a suspicion that this is the last one between us and Dathan. It's almost like we're walking into a prison. Finnick enters the code and he swings open the door. We both step into the dimly lit room and I look around the thin hall of a room. "How's he doing?", Finnick asks a man wearing a white coat. Must be a doctor or something. As a reply, he simply shakes his head. I know that Dathan's not good. The wall in front of us rises up into the ceiling and I'm now looking through a large window down into a snow white room. It's just like looking down into the canteen. Then I see the boy stumbling around, gasping and staring into the thin air. Then he looks at me straight in the eyes with no reaction. He just continues to look around aimlessly.

"He can't see you," I hear a gentle voice say, softly and clearly. It's definitely not Finnick's nor the doctor's. It's a woman's. I turn around and see Crimette standing like a soldier in front of me. Her long blonde hair curves over her shoulder and down her black outfit. Ruffling her fingers through her blonde hair on her chest, I manage to make out a pocket behind the gold locks. "I'm giving you permission to enter," she says, holding out a card. "Thanks," I try to whisper, but the lump at the back of my throat makes me croak it. I pluck it from her fingers and Finnick brings me down the stairs and into a tiny room. "Whatever you do, take it slowly. You might give him flashbacks and scare him," he cautions me. I nod and he leaves the room, shutting the door behind me. Then I spot a small box on the wall with a slit in it. I slide the card down the thin gap and the box lights up green. I hear a clank and when I go to push on the door, it springs open.

"Eden," whispers Dathan. I repeat his name in the same tone. "They attacked me for no reason!", he exclaims. "I know, I know," I try to settle him stepping into the room. Then my foot sinks and I realize that the floor is puffy and soft; it's just like a pillow. "Don't worry, I'll kill them if they mess with you!", I joke. He laughs and I slowly approach him. "They're only here to help us," I say. "Help us do what?", he asks. I open my lips to answer, but I don't have anything to say. I stop for a moment to think, and I begin to question even being in this room. What _are _they doing with us? Finnick has never answered that question yet, but as he said, I'll find out by tomorrow afternoon. I already know that I won't be happy with the truth.

"I'm not sure, Dathan, but it is only for the good," I say. He smiles and suddenly shudders. "No", he groans. "Shush", I whisper, hugging him lightly before he starts going crazy again. "You just need to rest. Everything will be okay." That's when the mask begins to fade on the wall and I can see the window. Finnick's waving for me to retreat and the whiteness fills back in, the window vanishing. "I need to go," I say to Dathan. "Why? Where are you going?", he asks. "I- I'm going to be back. Trust me," I say, rushing towards the exit. He manages to say "But-", and I quickly interrupt him and tell him to stay calm. When I go back into the small room the door in front of me opens up, two men stepping in. The breeze past me and slam the door shut.

I run up the stairs and I glare out the window to see them both pulling one of Dathan's arms each towards the plush wall. "What are they doing?", I ask. "Calm down Eden," Finnick's soothing voice says softly. "He's going through another proxonium session; he needs to be refreshed." I watch as the wall opens up and the push him into the small space inside, the wall closing up and concealing him in. Then the wall begins to rise and the proxonium box begins to appear. Within a flash, he's dropped inside and he screams in agony. "He'll be fine," says Crimette, placing her hand on my shoulder, but I don't bother to look at her. All I do is look at Dathan screaming in terror. "I just don't get it. Why must you make him go through the torture?", I ask to both Finnick and Crimette. "It makes him battle his greatest fears. It'll make him stronger," explains Crimette. "Why do you need to do it to us though?", I ask. "Well, we can't have two crazy lunatics like you both going-", Finnick interrupts Crimette. "I think you need to go back to your room," says Finnick with a slight tone of anger to his voice. There's no point in arguing with him. When I glance back down into the room at Dathan, his eyes are shut but he's still squirming and shouting. The proxonium has kicked in, but that doesn't mean it's going to change him.

"One last question," I say just as Finnick is about to push me outside. "What?", he and Crimette both say together. "How many more times does he have to go into that box?", I ask. "Well, Ms. O'Shea," says Crimette, not before coughing, "I think both Odair and I can agree that we're not going to waste much longer on him, and if we give up hope with him, we definitely can't send him back up to District 4." Immediately, I growl at her. "What do you mean?", I fiercely ask. "I think you know exactly what I mean," she snarls. Before I get to lash out at her, Finnick pulls me back out into the steel hallway and starts to bring me back to my room. Without a word, we walk back through the hallways until we reach the Hub where he says "Goodnight". It's just like the man in the hospital. He got slashed with a knife; the attacker couldn't be kept here in U-District 4 or be sent back up to District 4. Now if Dathan doesn't recover, they're going to do the same to him.. They're going to execute him.

* * *

**Once again guys and gals, I am greatly sorry for the delay. So many things have been happening in my life and I haven't felt like writing. I FORCED myself to write this chapter, and what do you know? I'm so excited to write what happens next! I guess taking breaks only discourages me.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! And yes, as I said before, this is going to be the last story in the Puppetmaster series so... EXPECT SOME SHOCKING TWISTS!**

**Also, I want to note that we only had Eden's POV in this chapter. Why? Because it didn't feel right to see Dathan's POV. It just wouldn't make any sense in my opinion. So yes, I'm only doing POVs for the characters if it feels right. But do not fret; Dathan have his POV soon, but I can't guarantee it for the next chapter. Soz :(**

**Please stay tuned for tomorrow's chapter! Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	6. The Truth

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

When the breakfast is starting to end in the canteen, I quickly sneak in when few people are around and grab a bread role to eat. After all, I know what the people are like here. I don't want to be mobbed. But when I unlock my bedroom door with my key, I jump out of my skin when I see Finnick standing inside. "And where were you?", he asks me, his arms crossed. I take a bite out of my role and he says "Ah". I find it rather strange that he invites me into _my own _room, but I accept the invite. I plonk down on the bed and I ask about Dathan. "Well, I can't tell you too much. I guess I'll say that he can't come with us today," says Finnick. "Where _are _we going?", I ask. "You'll see," he slyly says, "but first." Then he nods towards the spot on the wall where the proxonium chamber is. "It's going to be your last one," he continues. Annoyed at having to go through the torture again, I slam the half eaten role on my covers and I walk over. Tapping the button the wall once again, he opens up the hidden compartment. I step inside and the door seals shut, leaving me in darkness. I feel the familiar rumble and I'm dropped into the box again.

The gas clogs my throat and I struggle to breathe, but instead I remain still and try not to scream for help. I know that I'll be safe. Finnick winks at me through the glass and my surroundings dissolve into a dark empty space. I let out a gasp when the oxygen finally fills my lungs again and I take in a deep breath. I feel like I'm floating, but not for too long, because I'm suddenly lying on a wooden surface. Ferocious flames flicker in the fire place to my left and I stand to my feet. "Good evening, Ms. O'Shea," I hear a gritty voice call out from behind me. I turn on my heels and I stare into Fraux's dark green eyes. "And to you," I say politely, almost like I'm speaking in an interview for a job. Almost like I've completely forgotten everything about this man. The poisoned drink that he tried to kill me with. The hangings of the District 4 civilians broadcast live on television. The bombing of my house; completely everything.

"Sit," he orders, waving his hand. I walk over to his desk and rest on a chair to the other side of him. We're face to face now. I can even feel the air blowing out of his nostrils. Even though this is all a dream, his presence seems realistic. To the very light stubble on his face to his few freckles, this is almost like it's not a vision; it's like this is real. All but one exception: he isn't calling in a troop of Peacekeepers to kill me right now. "Drink?", he says. My first thought is to reject the offer as it could be a death trap just like the party, but this is a dream after all. "Sure." Two wine glasses rise from inside the desk and bright blue liquids sway inside. He's the first to pluck one and he immediately starts sipping at it. Cautiously, I pick up the glass and swallow some of the drink. An instant tang fills my mouth and I purse my lips. Tastes like a wild version of a sweet blueberry.

"So Eden," Fraux begins, putting down his glass and patting his marshmallow lips, "how does it feel to be the cause of destruction and deaths?". I slam my glass down on the table. "And what occasion may you be referring to?", I ask. I've never acted so smart in my life. If this was in school, it would be detention straight away for this behavior. "Well, "the occasion that I may be referring to" may be the hangings of your people at the train station," he replies with just as much cheek. "I never caused their deaths," I growl. "If it wasn't for your rebellious actions, no one would have died," he says, leaning back in his seat and inspecting his nails. Then I say something that catches his attention. Something that makes him stop picking the dirt from beneath his fingernails. "If it wasn't for your five years as the head Gamemaker, those one hundred and fifteen kids wouldn't have died a horrible death!". The room falls silent, but shortly after he begins to chuckle. "You mean one hundred and sixteen," he says. "Why fifteen?", I ask. Then he leans forward and whispers into my ear. "Because now it's your time."

A red flag waves in my brain and I try to flee, but I can't. An invisible force is holding me back as I try to scramble. As Fraux rises from his seat, the shine in his hand turns from the glass into a sharp knife. When I begin to think that this really is the end, Finnick's clear face flashes in my mind and it reminds me that this is all just a dream. "Happy Hunger Games," Fraux laughs, coming out from behind the desk. I push as hard as I can against the hidden barrier, and I break free. I tackle him to the ground and his knife skewers into my stomach. He rolls me over so now I'm on the wooden floorboards and he pulls the knife out. I groan and I try to punch him in the face, but he slashes my cheek. "And may the odds," he continues. He brings the knife down, but I latch onto his hand just before it hits my throat. He's much more powerful than I expected, but he's no match for me, even if I'm wounded or not. As he continues to push the knife down, I force it the other way direct it straight into his forehead. The trickle of blood drops onto my face, but I'm too weak to care. Fraux's lifeless body drops onto me and squashes me down. I feel my shirt being soaked of my own blood and I know I'm not going to be saved. As my eyes slowly shut and I'm plunged into darkness, Fraux's voice swirls around in my head. "When the Puppetmaster dies and drops the strings that hold you up, you will be left just as still and motionless as a puppet." The next thing I know, Finnick is pulling me up.

"Eden! You were calm! You've finished your last! You're complete!", he shrieks, but I don't care about what he's saying. All I care about is what happened in that dream. It was so real that I feel like it could happen. "Well, what did you see?", he asks. "I was talking with Fraux and then he attacked me," I say. Finnick nods his head. "He stabbed me but I ended up killing him," I continue. "Perfect!", Finnick yells. "This is just what we needed. You have the courage now.. All we need is Dathan now." But no matter what good I got out of that dream, I can't stop thinking about Fraux's voice. "When the Puppetmaster dies and drops the strings that hold you up, you will be left just as still and motionless as a puppet." It's almost like a warning.

"Anyway, you're complete so we'll be leaving in a few hours," says Finnick, heading towards the door. "Just stay here, get changed and entertain yourself. I'll be back." A couple of hours later, Finnick arrives back knocking on my door. This time, we enter the Hub and Finnick unlocks a door with a code again and we pass through. The hallway is about twenty meters long, and when he enters one final code into the final door, we're out into a wide open room just like the training room in the Training Center. Dozens of men and women wearing black uniforms scurry around chatting. "Over here," Finnick says, ushering me over to a large stretch sectioned off with iron bars. A security man lets us go inside and a man rushes over to Finnick. "Are you ready?", the man asks. Finnick nods, and the man runs over to a control pad and hits a button. Rising out of the ground comes a small, grey hovercraft. A ramp falls open on the side of the structure and Finnick leads me up it into a dimly lit room filled with seats. "Please sit down and hold on tight," a woman says to us both. We drop down onto the seats and automatically steel bars shoot out from the backs and lock us in tight. The woman sits down beside us and I feel a rumble in the floor. We must be taking off. "Where are we going?", I ask Finnick. "As I said before, you'll see," he whispers. For what seems like hours, and probably was, we spend a long time on the hovercraft, but with a loud bang, the iron bars contract and we're freed. "Must have arrived," says Finnick.

When the ramp falls and the cold wind fills up the hovercraft, a man and woman step out from a doorway. "Ah! There you both are," says Finnick, hugging them both. I stand awkwardly, watching as they chat away. "Hello," I interrupt them. "Well hello to you too," says the short, brown haired man, shaking my hand gently. Then the ginger woman shakes me hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Eden," she says. "My name's Loffia." Then the man tells me that his name is Hirk. "Eden, these will be your protectors," Finnick explains. Both of them in union then hold up their guns. "Protecting me from what?", I ask. "Well, a lot of different things," says Hirk. "You'll be facing various problems pretty soon." I'll what? What does he mean by this? Whatever he means, it doesn't sound good. I don't get a chance to ask him because Finnick soon forces us outside. I step off of the platform and onto the wet grass. The rain pelts against my skin but I don't have a hood to put up. Dressed in some sort of solider-like outfits, the rain just hits Loffia and Hirk's clothes and falls right off, leaving them dry as ever. The hovercraft seals the exit back up and it shoots into the sky.

"We've discovered a secret hole to get into the sewers," Finnick tells Loffia and Hirk, completely ignoring me. "Sewers? Where are we?", I ask. But they all ignore me. We walk in the mushy earth for a few minutes and I begin to make out a buildings in the distance. It's like a city. "Where are we?", I ask again, but the group remains silent until Finnick finally speaks up. "Here!". We look down into the two meter width hole that, just like Finnick said, leads to the sewers. "District 1 haven't bothered to patch this up," says Finnick. "Good for us, because now it's super simple to get to U-District 1." Now I know what's going on. One by one, we drop into the underground tunnels and land on the dry sidewalk. It's dark, but not so dark that I can't see where I'm going. Loffia and Hirk pull out torches and guide us through. We walk for around half an hour, taking different corners and routes until we reach a huge drop off. I stare down into the pit that seems to be bottomless, but Finnick assures me that it's safe. "I'll go first," Hirk says. Within a second, he jumps off the ledge and plummets downwards. Moments later, we hear his voice call out. "I'm okay!". Then Loffia drops. "I'm here!". Finnick and I both exchange looks. "Go on," he says. "Be the brave woman that you are." I certainly am brave, but this hole seems deadly. Suddenly, Finnick walks towards me and pushes me. I fall through the air, and when I hit the ground, I bounce. The stone surface certainly isn't stone. It's like a soft pillow. I rise to my feet and I wobble a bit, and I'm sent up into the air when Finnick lands. After all the walking, we're finally left with a steel door that looks very suspicious. We're here.

Finnick knocks on the door and it instantly swings open. "And you all are?", a buff man asks. "I'm Finnick Odair; president of U-District 4. We came here for a confidential meeting with Gloss Ritchson," Finnick explains to the man. "I recognize you. Please enter," he replies. The man leads us through a doorway into an area that seems almost identical to the Hub in U-District 4. "Every U-District have a place like this?", I ask. Finnick nods. "I've been here many times. I know the way," he says to the man. The man scurries back and Finnick guides us through the various hallways. This place seems much more bigger than U-District 4 and it contains more people. Civilians walk past us all, and even though they greet us, they're nowhere near as enthusiastic as the people in Four. We then arrive at a door with the words "Staff Only" written across it. "Here's the meeting room," says Finnick, tapping on the door. It then swings open and a familiar face stands in the doorway. Just like the other man, he's buff, and just like Finnick, he's got golden brown hair. Then I recognize him from somewhere.. I know who he is. It's Gloss. "Hello Finnick," says Gloss, standing out of the way to let us in. We pile in and we all shake his hand. "I appreciate you all for coming," he says as we sit down at a long table. Just like U-District 4, the meeting room is almost identical. "Well, it's all for the rebellion," says Finnick, then proceeding to wink at me. The rebellion? What's he on about? "What do you mean?", I ask. "You never told her?", says Gloss. "Well, no," says Finnick, running his fingers through his hair. "She wasn't complete yet."

Now it's time for the questions to be answered. "What do you mean by complete?", I ask. "Look," begins Finnick, leaning forward in his seat. "This is the third rebellion against the Capitol. As you know, Thirteen was destroyed for the second time and the second rebellion failed. I was part of that rebellion, but I fled from Thirteen and they never found out. However, after the second rebellion, I was part of the developing team to create the U-Districts. Now we're here, inspiring everyone on the surface to fight back against the Capitol."

This is too much to process. A third rebellion is what I _don't _want. Any deaths or destruction will be caused by Dathan and I. We cut down the beanstalk. We inspired everyone. We're to blame. What if the rebels fail again? We'll be put on the chopping block live on television. "Eden, we need your help," says Gloss in a deep, manly voice. "We need to inspire the districts even more."

"But you have twelve U-Districts. Isn't that enough already?", I ask. "No, it's not. The Capitol are stronger. They're wiser. They've filled their streets with even more hidden death traps. They've fortified their buildings even more. We need everyone. Fraux must die," replies Gloss.

The more this discussion goes on, the more I get worried of that dream I had earlier. Even if Fraux is killed, will I die too just like in the dream? "When the Puppetmaster dies and drops the strings that hold you up, you will be left just as still and motionless as a puppet." The more I hear his voice repeat that quote, the more I begin to believe that dreams can come true. All I know is that if the U-Districts cause a third rebellion, I'll be dragged along with them, dragged along towards my imminent death.

* * *

**Another intense chapter... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! What do you think will happen next? Did you expect this rebellion to come? What's going to happen? Will Eden's vision come to life? Will Fraux die? Will Dathan ever become sane again? And most importantly, what does the future behold for Panem? Keep reading to find out ;)**

**Thank you all so much, byeeee :)**


	7. Unbreakable Hope

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

After a long discussion about a third rebellion, I ask a very important question. "When are you planning to fight back?". Gloss speaks up first. "Well, the Capitol nor the Districts know about the U-Districts. We want to get as powerful as we can before attacking. We want it to be a surprise," he says. And so it shall be a surprise. As far as the Capitol knows, Finnick, Dathan and I are all dead. Died in the bombings, but what do the Districts think about all this? Have the Capitol bombed them too? They surely couldn't... But Fraux is an insane man; he'll do as he pleases.

"What do we do from now?", I ask. "Well, I suggest that you all just wait in U-District 4 for updates from us. We have a broad variety of people working on bombs, guns, supplies and different things," says Gloss, but the look on Finnick's face looks concerned. "We can't wait for too long. We need to go back up to the surface and see what's really happening. Order your craftsmen to hurry up," says Finnick. "I can see where you're coming from," says Gloss, beginning to stand up. "We need to send Eden back up to the surface to show that she's still alive, that way the rebels don't lose hope. But if we do send her back up, the Capitol will discover the U-Districts. She's only going up when we're ready." He then ushers us out of the meeting room towards the living quarters.

It looks like I've got no choice anymore. I've got to be part of this rebellion. I never wanted any of this. All I can pray for is that Dathan recovers. After walking past countless amounts of bunkers, we finally stop and Gloss shows us our rooms. Each of the small spaces contains just a bed. A glass wall lies in front of me so it's impossible to get a bit of privacy. Everyone will be dying to catch a glimpse of me, and I don't even have curtains to hide myself. While Finnick stays in his bunker beside mine, Gloss arrives a few minutes later with a black uniform for me to wear. It seems like every U-District is the same with the clothes. I dive into bed, and what seems like a minute later, my eyes flash back open. Men are walking down the hallway and are banging on each of our bunkers, yelling "Rise and shine! The canteen is open!". I quickly get changed into my outfit and I awkwardly exchange looks with the woman in her bunker on the opposite side of the hallway, staring at me completely naked. I step outside of my room just as Finnick finishes getting changed. Loffia and Hirk say that they'll catch up with us so we follow everyone else down to the canteen. Walking down a seemingly endless flight of stairs, we arrive in the massive eating area.

We grab a bowl each and queue up to get our food. When we reach the counter, a hag of a woman asks us whether we want chicken or carrot soup. We both go for the chicken and she sloppily pours the goop into our bowls. We grab spoons at the end of the desk and we head to bench. Every time I go to scoop up some of the vileness, I have to stab through a fresh layer of a crusty substance first. The taste is foul, but Finnick demands that I finish it so it's a tackle to keep each spoonful down. "Finnick, we need to do revive the rebels quickly," I say. "Everyone on the surface doesn't know about us. Surely their inspiration for a rebellion is declining." He drops his spoon. "I know. Gloss won't listen to me," he moans. "You were part of the development of the U-Districts. You should be the one bossing him around," I exclaim. He just nods his head and continues to slurp down the soup. Suddenly, a booming voice echoes around the canteen which makes everyone fall silent. "Attention citizens of U-District 1. As the other U-Districts have just begun this event, we have decided that it's best to start too. Tryouts to become a soldier will begin tomorrow morning at area E-2. We recommend that you try out, even if you think you have no hope as there are lots of spots to be filled. That is all".

Finnick and I both stare at each other. "The other Districts have started it," I repeat. Once again, Finnick nods. "I want to become a soldier," I say. "You can't. You belong in U-District 4 so you better try out back home," he replies. "Well when are we leaving here?", I ask. He shrugs his soldiers. "We need to go back home," I say.

After organizing a hovercraft back home to U-District 4, Finnick, Hirk, Loffia and I go back home. The moment we step down the ramp, Crimette stands there with a smile on her face. "Dathan," is the only word that slips out of her mouth. In a panic, we barge through the crowds of workmen and through the various hallways until we reach the hospital. Once again, we ring around the desk, through the last hallway and into the therapy room. I stare through the glass and down into Dathan's prison, but he's not there. "Eden," I hear his gentle voice call out. I swing around and I see his brown hair over Finnick's shoulder. I push past him and I lay my eyes on Dathan. He doesn't look weak anymore, nor tired. He's not flipping out either. He looks normal. "Dathan," I gasp. Then I notice to guards standing behind him, making sure he doesn't make any bold moves. I collapse in his arms and fully embrace him. "Where were you?", he asks. I'm not holding back any secrets this time. He's okay now, so I'm telling him. "District 1," I say, but he pauses. I know he's confused, so I begin to explain. "You know why we're here? Because we're going to fight back," I say. "Fight back against who?", he asks, obviously still a bit dazzled by his surroundings. "The Capitol," I whisper. I can feel an evil presence in the room just from saying those two words. "We're going to kill Fraux?", he says, after a long pause. I nod. I await for him to say something negative, begging me to stop this rebellion, but he says something different. "Let's kill the bastard."

I should be horrified, but I chuckle when he says it. "He's done too much damage to be pardoned," says Dathan. "I agree," Finnick adds. "And that's why we're preparing troops tomorrow. Want to be a soldier, anyone?", asks Crimette. Dathan raises his hand. "Me!", he shrieks. "Me too," I say. "Good. You best be up early. I'll repeat the announcement later tonight," says Crimette, then proceeding to exit the room. We bring Dathan to the canteen to get fed while Finnick and I just wait around. After taking a bite out of his slice of bread, he smiles. "Food at last," he exclaims. "What do you mean?", I ask him. He then repeats his words. "I haven't had food for a while," he adds. I stare at Finnick with disbelief. "Don't look at me like that! I wasn't the one to check up on him," Finnick defends himself. "Then who was?", I ask bitterly. "Crimette," he replies. So she let him starve. She let him go through the pain. I should have known when she was being rude to me yesterday. Either she's just really cranky or she's stupid. I'm guessing both.

We head back to our rooms and Finnick tells us to get some rest, even though it's only eight o'clock. When he leaves, I sneak into Dathan's room to have a chat with him. "Hi Eden," he says, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Hey Dathan. You feeling better?", I ask. He nods and smiles. I've never seen him this happy before. It's almost like he's still a bit knocked up, but not too much. "Eden, are we going to kill Fraux?", he asks. "Yes," I whisper. "We will, and we'll make sure he dies a painful death." Dathan smirks and lies back on his pillow. "I just hope that everyone can see how evil he is," he whispers, staring up at the ceiling. "Don't worry-", I begin, but I'm interrupted.

"Attention citizens of U-District. Could everyone please make their way to the Hub now. Thank you," I hear booming out of the walls. There's no speakers anywhere in the room, so they must be hidden. Dathan and I step out into the Hub and he locks his door. We're the first here, then Dathan's guards arrive and surround him. One by one, the room begins to fill with black uniformed people, waiting patiently for something to happen. Up on the balcony, Crimette steps out to cheers of everyone. She then begins to speak into her microphone. "Thank you all for coming. I'd just like to remind everyone that the tryouts to be part of the rebel squad will begin tomorrow morning at eight-thirty in area J-6. Now, I hand over to President Odair." As she disappears into the hallway behind her, Finnick steps out and everyone goes wild. "Thank you, thank you," he says, the crowd cheering loudly. They begin to settle and he starts speaking. "As some of you may have noticed, we have brought the victors' of the one-hundredth Hunger Games down here, Dathan Lynn and Eden O'Shea, but for a particular reason.."

His smooth voice echoes throughout the room. It's so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. "The Capitol sent hovercrafts to bomb the Victors' Village where they were currently staying in, but no matter how hard they try to defeat us, they never will. We have the beacons of hope, we have the two things that could change our country. We are in the midst of a proper way to live in Panem!".

The crowd begins to clap and cheer. "We do not need to fight one another for the Capitol's entertainment. We do not need to fight one another for scraps!". The cheers increase to full on screaming, everyone tossing their fists in the air. "Join hands in this fight. Let today be the day that we fight back for a new Panem. Fight back for a place of peace, justice and equality!".

Now everyone is making some sort of chant: "Hoo-ra!", is what they shout. "Everyone needs to give their all and help us rebel against President Fraux Hellex. Panem shall be reborn in our hands!". Finnick disappears into the hallway and the cheers slowly fade away. Guards escort everyone out of the Hub and I say goodnight to Dathan. Entering my room, I let my thoughts run wild.

I never expected Finnick to speak so inspirational. He sounded so passionate about what he was saying, like he meant every single word. I guess he did mean every single word. With the hundreds of crazy rebels here in this U-District, and with the other hundreds in the other eleven, all we need to do is make sure the regular Districts are fully involved. For the Capitol, there's no escape. We are coming, and we're prepared. As Finnick said, Panem truly will be reborn in our hands, in the hands of people who have sense. The Hunger Games will be gone forever and equality will be spread across Panem. His speech makes me even more determined to become a soldier. When we finally take over the Capitol and have Fraux in our hands, I'll demand that Dathan and I are the ones to kill him. Karma is going to bite, and it ain't going to be pretty.

* * *

**LET'S KILL FRAUX! Anyway, what did you all think of this chapter? We had big things happen... Dathan is back! What does this mean? It means that his POV is coming very soon :) Also, the rebellion is coming... I was emotionally in love with the last scene in Mockingjay Part 1 so much that I decided to make the end of this chapter just like it. Also, I have to tell you something.. I made a boo boo in the last chapter. I meant for all that to be taking place in District 1, not 2. Very sorry :(**

**If you liked this chapter, please drop a review down below and tell me what you think could happen next? What did you like? What did you hate? Let me tell you this: there's going to be a lot more things to make these chapters exciting. As this is the last story in this series, there's going to be lots of twists and unfortunate events... *wink wink***

**I hope you all read the next chapter which will be PART II! How many parts am I planning to make? I'm planning for five, but the fifth one will be a bit shorter with maybe only three or four chapters. Maybe, maybe not. It could all change during the process of this story. **

**Anyway, thank you all so much for reading! Byeeee :)**

_**"If we burn, you burn with us!".**_


	8. PART II, The Abduction: Never Ending

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

"Just one minute!", I shout at Eden, knocking on my door relentlessly. I finish getting changed into my black uniform and I head outside. "Ready?", I ask her. "Well what do you think?", she asks sarcastically, showing off her clothes that are identical to mine. We head off through a doorway labelled "J-1 to 10" and we pass through the crowds of civilians. Down a hallway with "J-6" printed in bold lettering on the walls, we arrive in some sort of training area. I let the spear go and I watch as it lodges into the test dummy's chest. Then the wolf appears out of nowhere and begins chasing me. I try to run, but it claws the back of my legs and I drop to the ground. Eden shoots an arrow, but it doesn't come in contact with the wolf until it chews on my face.

"Dathan!", Eden screams at me. I look up at her from the ground and she pulls me up. "What happened?", she asks, but when I check to see where the wolf is, all I see is people looking at me strangely, continuing on into the tryouts. "I- I.. I was in the Training Center! And the wolf-", I manage to get out before she interrupts me. "You're seeing things, Dathan. You're having flashbacks.

After that fiasco, we walk inside and get into a queue of men and women. When we reach the top, a woman asks us for our names. When we tell her who we are, she looks at me funnily, then smiles and says "Next please". A man stops us and tells us we have to wait for four more people to pass through. When the people give the woman their names, the man escorts all seven of us into a small room off to the side. "Hello, trainees. You guys will be part of squad thirteen; that's if you all pass your tests," the tanned man says, patting his greasy, pulled back, black hair. I take a look around and I check out each of the people. There's a young man with short brown hair, a tall woman with extremely long blonde hair, an older man with snow white hair and a young woman with black hair tied up in a bun. "So, let's introduce ourselves. My name's Kit," the man says, then proceeding to point at me. "You?".

"Dathan", I say. Then Eden says hers. "Fry," the brown haired lad says. "Keeka," says the blonde woman. "Nutorum," says the older man, and the last girl says "Boniqua." Kit tells us how we'll all go through an examination to see how well we would fare in the middle of a battle. He brings us through a door and we're out in an expansive hall. With streets and buildings that look exactly like the Capitol, Kit explains how we'll each be given a gun and we have to shoot the main Peacekeeper indicated with a blue helmet. He makes me go first.

Everyone sits in a room and looks out a window at me. Security guards give me some sort of massive gun and I struggle to hold it properly. "Three, two, one", flashes across a screen propped up on the side of a building. Suddenly, Peacekeepers rise up from beneath the street and aim their guns at me. Immediately, I sprint to the left and down an alleyway. It's a dead end. With nowhere to go and the Peacekeepers' footsteps getting louder, I lift up the lid of a trashcan and climb inside. I pull the lid back over and I wait in the darkness. It's cramped, but at least it gives me hope to pass this test. I hear the crowd of them right beside me and I stay as still as I can. The sounds of the footsteps start to lower until I can't hear them at all. I slowly lift the lid and scan outside. It's safe. I climb out and I peek around the corner wall of the alley. How stupid can they be? They certainly aren't people. They must be robots of some sort considering that there was nowhere to go but inside the trashcan, yet they didn't check if I was there.

With their backs turned and facing me, I decide it's best to attack while they're oblivious. I raise my gun and I step out from behind the wall. I press my forefinger against the trigger and my arm is blown back by the blast. I stumble backwards and the sound pierces through my ears. When I regain my concentration, I look up to see the Peacekeeper dead on the ground with a dot of red on it's back. Then to my surprise, the body armor bursts open in a gory fashion, spraying all sorts of meaty chunks and blood, including a few wires. Now I'm certain they're robots.

The remaining few Peacekeepers turn on their heals and raise their guns again. I retreat back into the alleyway, but instead of hiding in the trashcan, I hide _behind _it. I slowly peek around the edge of the trashcan and I catch a glimpse of the white bodysuits. I pull my head back in and I wait for a couple of seconds. I jump back up to see the Peacekeepers with their backs facing me, leaving the alley once again. I send a storm of bullets flying through the air and I watch as the robots drop to the ground. Good thing the others are watching from another room, because if they were just off to the side, I'm pretty sure they'd be dead because of me.

I wait for the bodies to explode, and once they do, I walk to the edge of the alley.. I scan the area to find that there's no threats. Cautiously, I hold my gun up, ready to fire and I walk slowly down the tarmac road. Suddenly, I see a green flash from the corner of my eye. I look up to see a traffic light with the green circle shining bright. But that means... I hear an engine running and I dodge out of the way just in time before the truck runs me over. I smash my hip against the curb of the sidewalk and I hold onto it in pain. The backdoor of the truck swings open and two Peacekeepers hop out. Then from the front of the truck, one Peacekeeper jumps out from the driver's door. I stand up with my gun in one hand, my other on my hip, trying to run for my life. I hear the bangs and the bullets hit the ground around my feet. I turn around a street corner to see that it's a dead end. I'm going to fail this exam.

I hear the footsteps approaching and I've got no options but to fire. When I see the white uniforms, I let go of my hip and I fire the bullets. One by one, the Peacekeepers drop like flies. I watch as the guts spray over the concrete walls, but when I'm about to rest for a moment, another Peacekeeper turns the corner. This time, it has a blue helmet. It's bigger than the size a human being should be, which frightens me desperately. It raises it's gun and fires, sending out about ten little spherical objects. Immediately, I dive in the opposite direction just as they explode almost instantly. Mini bombs. I hide behind a rundown car and glance through the window to see the Peacekeeper approaching me with it's gun aimed. It's now or never. I leap up from behind the car and I shoot my gun rapidly, watching as the bullets shoot right through the body armor. Specs of blood splash out from the suit, but within an instant, it bursts open with a wave of blood. "Dathan, please make your way back to the beginning please," Kit's voice booms around the streets. When I get back to the starting area, Eden dives onto me. "Well done!", she squeals, while all the others just say "Congratulations," very calmly. Looks like I'm a threat to them.

"Eden, you're up next," says Kit. I give her my gun and Kit brings us into the waiting room. Inside, I sit down on a long bench up against the wall and I watch the television screens. Eden starts running down the street, and just like what happened to me, Peacekeepers rise up from the ground. Without hesitation, she starts rapid firing at them and they burst open like pinatas. She must have taken a note or two from my examination. Unlike me, she takes a right this time and she's face with something I've never seen before. "What is that?", I ask Kit as I watch Eden stands there puzzled. "It's a pod. The Capitol's streets were full of them during the second rebellion. We've copied the information about them and made them ourselves, except these ones can't kill you," he explains. That worries me deeply; "Except these ones can't kill you". What will it be like fighting in the Capitol, but in real life?

The jagged metal structure is about a meter wide and long and it's got metal shards pointing out in different directions. It's almost like a small version of a Cornucopia from the previous years in the Games. Thinking wisely, Eden shoots the pod while staying far away from it, and I watch as a net springs out and covers a couple of feet around it. "Very clever," mutters Kit. Eden slowly tiptoes around the net and sprints on down the street. Just then, the Peacekeeper with the blue helmet appears out of nowhere. Creeping up behind her, it shoots it's gun and she falls to the ground. "Eden!", I scream out her name, even though she can't hear me. But she begins to move. When the Peacekeeper thinks it's job is done, it begins to walk away, but she rolls over and lands the finishing shot through it's back. As it falls face first to the ground, Kit speaks into his microphone to tell her to come back.

I rush out the door and ask if she's hurt, but she claims that she just "fell". "What was that thing?", she asks. "Kit told me it was a pod. They were used in the second rebellion in the streets of the Capitol to kill people," I explain. "There's a different threat in every single one of them so you never know what to expect," Kit adds. "Anyway, Fry is next."

After watching everyone pass their exams, we finally get to Nutorum who gets shot by a Peacekeeper. Apparently, it wasn't going to kill him but it was just as painful as a real shot, Kit tells us. As he's rushed off to the hospital to get drugged, Kit tells us that we've passed our exams and that we're officially part of squad thirteen, but we need to train every single day which doesn't sound the finest. Eden and I get to the canteen just in time before breakfast ends, and while we're eating some porridge, Finnick arrives and sits with us. "How'd it go?", he asks. "Well, we're officially part of squad thirteen," says Eden. "Thirteen? That's an unlucky number, you know?", he replies. We all fall silent until Finnick tries to cool the tension by laughing about it. "Everything will be fine!".

After finishing up our breakfast, Finnick tells me something important. "Oh, Dathan! I almost forgot. Crimette told me to put you through one last proxonium test, so we better get a move on." Crimette. The one who rejected my requests for food. The one who ordered the men to whip me. The one who ordered them to shock me. The one who ordered them to drown me. "No," I say. "What do you mean?", he asks. "No! She tried to kill me!", I shout. Eden puts her spoon down and looks at me anxiously. Finnick just stares at me too. This is it. They're going to take me away against my will. They're going to torture me. I can tell by the way they're staring into my soul. I've got to run.

I get up from the table and sprint through the crowds of people, even knocking plates out a few of their hands. Out the door and up the stairs, I sprint through the Hub and unlock my bedroom door. I seal it shut and I prop a chair up against the handle just to be safe. They can't get to me now. They can't put me through anymore pain now! They better stay away from me.

"Dathan!", I hear Eden yell from outside, followed by a series of knocks on the door which turns into bangs. Then I hear her and Finnick having a discussion for about a minute, but I can't make out what they're saying. I hear the twisting of a key and my heart drops. They must have a spare key. The handle begins to twist, but the chair is blocking them from getting in. "Open the door!", Finnick screams. I press myself up against the door just to make it harder for them. The door handle keeps wriggling, and suddenly, they get the door open for half a second and the chair is knocked down. Now it's only me to keep them out. I put pressure on the door and I force it shut every time they get it open for a moment, but I know we can't do this all day. With one might charge, Finnick forces the door open and I fall to the ground. Now both of them are looming over me and I scan the room for any escape routes, but there's none but the door that they're blocking. "Dathan," Finnick says calmly, trying to settle me down, but he's only trying to trick me. "No!", I scream. He whacks the button on the wall and the familiar hidden compartment opens up. He picks me up off the ground and pulls me towards the hole in the wall, but I struggle in his grasp. "Eden! Help!", I scream, but she just looks at me disappointed. I'm tossed inside, and I don't get even a second to escape because the wall seals me in. I'm dropped back into the glass box and I scream as the gas sizzles the inside of my throat. I drag my hands down the window, begging for help, but Finnick and Eden just stare at me silently. Before I know it, I'm face to face with the evil witch: Crimette.

"Hello, it," she says. "I have a name!", I scream at her, but she just chuckles. "You're nothing. You're an insane, mental lunatic so why should I treat you like a human?", she asks. I charge at her and I tackle her to the ground, but I'm fighting thin air, because when I look back up, she's standing just like she was a moment ago a couple of feet away from me. "Nice try," she whispers.

I toss my spear, and as she teleports about a meter to the left, I quickly run at her just as she forms into the space. Once again, knock her down to the ground, but this time I wrap my fingers around her throat and push hard. She opens her mouth to try and gasp for air, but not a single sound comes out. Her eyes start to bulge out and her face is becoming red. Her eyelids begin to close, and when they're fully shut, I hit the ground. "Well done!", exclaims Finnick. "You were so calm during that! You've passed your final task!".

I stand up to my feet and I'm face to face with Finnick and Eden, both smiling at me. "What did you see? What did you do?", asks Eden. I feel uncomfortable saying it, but I manage to get it out. "I strangled Crimette." The room falls silent. "You what?", says Finnick, utterly shocked. "What could have made him dream about that?", asks Eden. "He obviously must not like her very much," says Finnick. "The twat starved me," I say. They both just glare at me. "They drowned me," I whisper. Eden must know what I'm feeling like, because she immediately goes in for a hug and the water streams start flowing. Finnick awkwardly leaves the room while Eden chats with me on the bed, but the next thing I know, my eyes spring open. When I look at the clock on the wall, it reads five-fifteen. I must have drifted off for a couple of hours.

Instead of causing more problems by leaving, I just lie there doing absolutely nothing. I wrap myself into a cocoon with the silk bed sheets and I close my eyes. This is all too much for me. This was all my idea. It's my fault, but I never wanted any of this to happen. I didn't deserve the beatings, nor the electric shocks. I just miss home, and not down here or in the Victors' Village. I miss my _real _home. I miss my parents. Araxie. Leith. But the only time I'll ever be able to see them again is in the nightmares I have every night of them being blown to bits.

* * *

**This story is clearly going to be a dark one... Anyway, what did you all think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Tell me your reasons in a review down below! Don't forget to take part in the poll on my profile for my Super Smash Bros. story!**

**I want to let you know something also: In the chapter "Another New Life", by a mistake I said U-District 5 for a LOT of parts when I actually meant U-District 4! Unfortunately, I can't edit it because I deleted that file to create space! Sorry!**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeee :)**


	9. Reigniting The Flames

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

The following morning, Eden and I head to area J-6 to start training. I struggle to keep my eyes open for more than a few seconds after that rough night. Every time I was about to drift off to sleep, Araxie caught my eye at the edge of my bed. When I called out her name, she disappeared into thin air. Now I'm dying to get some sleep. We meet up with Kit and he brings us to the training area. Keeka, Fry and Boniqua; they're all here except one. "What happened to Nutorum?", I ask Kit. "Well, after getting shot, we decided that he's unable to become a soldier. Too weak," he answers.

Just like yesterday, Kit tells us that we're going to have to kill the Peacekeeper with the blue helmet, but this time we're going in all together. Propped up on the side of a Capitol building, a countdown from three flashes across a screen. Armed with powerful guns, we jog down the street and wait for our enemies to spawn, but nothing appears. We all exchange confused looks and slow our pace down. Suddenly, a small pebble hits my shoulder and drops to the ground. I stare at it and turn around to see where it came from, but I don't see anything. Another one falls, but it doesn't hit me and it lands on the ground in front of me. Now a bigger one smacks the tarmac and bounces back up a bit. I look up at the ceiling to see small holes scattered around, the stones being dropped out of them, but now they're turning into rocks. One hits Eden's arm and she squeals in pain. "What the hell!", she shrieks. Now they're starting to come down like it's raining. The thump against us and we all scream in agony. "Come on!", Keeka shouts, running towards one of the buildings.

We pull on one of the door handles to find that it's locked. "Stand back!", Fry shouts. He raises his gun and shoots down the glass, letting us inside. Once we're inside the empty room, I roll up my sleeve to discover that my arm's covered in bruises. "What was that all about?", Boniqua asks. We all shrug. First Nutorum gets shot, now we're getting pelted on with rocks. They really aren't holding back on the training. One of us could have been knocked out! Looking around in the darkness, I spot nothing but a staircase. "Want to go up?", I ask the group. "Definitely. We can't go back outside," says Keeka, having to speak up over the banging sounds of the rocks hitting the ground. I lead the way up the stairs, and just as I reach the top, the entire room illuminates from the spark coming from the tip of the Peacekeepers' guns. I stumble back and duck so I'm out of sight. "Watch out," I whisper to everyone staring at me in shock. The second the firing stops, I leap up and unleash the bullets. The bodies explode and stain the stone walls red with blood. "Got them," I say.

When we search the room, we find that once again, there's nothing but another staircase. "I'll go up first," urges Boniqua, sliding her way around me. We slowly creep up the stairs behind her, but suddenly, she rages and sprints up, firing and yelling at the enemies. "Die! Die!", she screams. I let out a small chuckle. "Safe," she says. When we go up the next flight of stairs, we find absolutely nothing. Not even one last staircase. "It's a dead end," says Fry. "Or it's a trap," Keeka adds. Just then, the stairs fold up and seal us all in. A blue light flickers in the corner of the room and the head Peacekeeper forms from little pixels. "Shoot!", I shriek. We let our guns fire the unstoppable bullets, but they bounce off the Peacekeeper's body armor and drop to the ground. Looks like Kit has boosted up the challenge. I know this is the case when it shoots it's gun, the bullet shoot through the wall and opening up a huge hole. The daylight shoots into the darkened room and the cold wind pierces our skin.

"Someone get behind it!", Fry orders. Keeka immediately sprints to the right and slides on the ground past the Peacekeeper. Completely oblivious to her, it continues to walk towards us. Keeka blasts her gun at it's back and I watch as it drops to the ground, exploding in a gory fashion. "There was a blue spot on it's back. Must have been the target," she says. "Well done! Please make your way back to the starting area," Kit's voice echoes. When we arrive, he congratulates us. "Keep up the good work and I'll make sure you can be a team right up the front in the war," he says. As we leave training, Eden and I pass by queues of patient soldiers waiting to start their sessions. We better come here every morning early or we'll be stuck in lines for hours. Also, it means that the canteen is practically empty. Now we can choose any bench. As we sit down with a plate full of a mushy substance called "Sloob" by the servers, Boniqua, Keeka and Fry catch up and sit down alongside us.

"I've heard rumors that we're being sent out to the Capitol in a few days," whispers Keeka. "Seems logical. All the other U-Districts are prepared," Eden says. "All that's left is for the rebels to be trained." But they're missing one key factor: the regular Districts. What about them? They don't know about the U-Districts, so how do they know to fight back? Finnick better have something planned or this war will fail. The Capitol will still have the power and we'll be all dead. After breakfast, I bring Eden to my room to let the others leave us alone. "We need to see Finnick," I say. "For what?", she asks me. "For business plans," I joke. Correctly guessing that he might be in the meeting room, we catch him alone drinking on some coffee while he looks over maps of the Capitol streets. "Well this is a surprise. What are you guys doing here?", he asks. Eden shrugs and nods her head towards me. "When are we finally going to go into battle?", I ask. "Well, we have to round up some footage of us in the Districts first. I'll send the videos to U-District 3. They'll easily hack into Capitol TV and they'll be able to air the videos for all of Panem to see," he answers. "And that's to-", I manage to get out before I'm interrupted. "To unite everyone together. Then alongside the refueled rebels on the surface, we'll all start to fight," says Finnick. "Be prepared for tomorrow morning. Your skills learned in the rebel training sessions every morning will be put to the test tomorrow. We're going up to District 4."

The thought excites me put also frightens me. I was always put off by the fact that a rebellion is looming, but considering I'm stuck in the middle of all the drama with no escapes, I've just got to accept it. Without Eden and I, this war could fail. By now, everyone on the surface has probably lost all hope because of our "deaths", but as Finnick said, if we "refuel the rebels", we can take over. We can free Panem, turn it into a place it should be. We'll have sixteen different Districts to fight back against the Capitol. For once, the odds will be in _everyone's _favor, not just a powerful career tribute. Instead of relaxing and getting our minds set for tomorrow, Eden and I head back to training to get our bodies set. Unfortunately, we have to wait hours upon hours, and when we finally reach the top of the queue, we're too tired to train and our performances are terrible. However, Boniqua happened to be in the line too, and considering she's on our team, the guards let her come in with us. She lead the way throughout the session and she managed to kill the head Peacekeeper. Eden got no kills, but I got only one because my tired fingers began to twitch and mistakenly triggered my gun, landing a hit on one of the enemies. Stressed, we both go to our rooms for a bit of rest, but Finnick announces over the speakers that dinner has just commenced in the canteen. Usually I'd be happy when it's dinner, but not now. The hunger makes me tired, which makes me too wrecked to walk to the canteen. When I force myself to go, the place is half filled as others continue to wait queue for training. Dinner is mashed potatoes and steak. It seems nice at first glance, but when I finally dig in, I find out that the potato is like a glue substance and the steak feels like rubber in my mouth. When I try to leave after taking one bite, some sort of security guard orders me to clear my tray, but I barge past him. Into my room, I get changed into my sleeping uniform and I dive into bed. "Could Dathan Lynn, Eden O'Shea, Keeka Farron, Fry Eeep, Boniqua Pon, Hirk Jult and Loffia Minelyn please come to the meeting room now please. Thank you," Finnick's voice swirls around in my head. It takes me a moment, but I jump awake.

Looking at the clock, it's seven o'clock. I get changed into my uniform and I head to the meeting room. Finnick smiles when he spots me through the window and he lets me in. Eden and Fry arrive just after me and we're all told to line up against the wall. "As I told you all last night, at least the ones who bothered to show up," says Finnick, eyeing both Eden and I. He must have announced it while I was sleeping. "We're going to be going up to the surface. Loffia and Fry, your roles are to protect me." They both nod their heads. "Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua; your jobs are to record everything that's happening, and for Dathan and Eden, your jobs are to be the stars. Do what you can to surprise everyone and reignited the fires in their hearts." He smiles. "Let's go."

To put over our regular uniforms, we're given black suits of body armor to protect us. Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua are given helmets that record wherever they're looking and basic hand cameras. Lofia and Fry are given the same as Eden and I: a gun each. However, considering we're both going to be doing the most, Eden is given a quiver full of arrows and a bow that can fold up and put into a pocket on the side of her quiver, and I'm given a spear that shoots out bullets along it when it's thrown. Apparently the bullets are released when the flow of air is highly increased, according to Finnick. He escorts us through a massive room full of bombs and rockets and over to a door at the far end. "Once I open this up, everyone needs to go outside immediately or else someone could spot us," orders Finnick. He then counts down from three, and he pushes the door open. Starting from Finnick, everyone jumps out the door. I leap out and I fall down a couple of meters, only to land on wet grass. I stand up and I look out at the broad fields of District 4.

"Any problems, you need to flee back to here. Okay?", Finnick says. "Okay," we all chant. A man nods at us from behind the door and shuts it close. Marching away from the mountain we just came out from, we walk across the large field and into the dense forest. Struggling to hold my heavy gun up, I slip my spear into a tube stuck to the armor on my back and I hold the gun up with my two hands. Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua scan the area with their cameras, and after minutes of silence, they start to ask us questions. "Dathan, what are we doing right now?", Keeka asks me. "Well, we're going to show District 4 that we're alive," I answer. If I we don't start giving some good information, no one will be inspired by us. "Fraux is so pathetic," I add. "He tried to bomb Finnick, Eden and I in the Victors' Village, but we outsmarted him. We traveled far underground to U-District 4."

"What's U-District 4?", Boniqua asks. "The secret District formed to unite the rebels. Every District has a U-District. To all the rebels all over Panem; we need your help. If you help us, the U-Districts, we can finally fight back against the Capitol. We will be free," Eden buts in. "I, Finnick Odair, president of U-District 4, also agree with all these things. Panem, this is your time to fight for what you believe in," Finnick says, stepping out in front of the camera. "Disobey the rules, attack the Peacekeepers; every bit of rebellion that you give will only make us stronger!".

The trees end and we're faced with another field, but on the other side is the city of District 4. Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua all aim their cameras at the towering buildings. "Our first step is District 4! Down with the Capitol!", I scream. Immediately, we begin to sprint across the grass. Hopping over a fence, we're in the middle of the city. "Where should we go?", asks Eden. "The Justice Building," I say. "We could hook up the cameras to the big screens. You guys could film us all and we could get everyone's attention." Finnick nods. "Let's go." We jog down the empty pathways to find that no one's around. Considering it's morning, everyone should be rushing to work, but there's not a soul in sight. No cars. No people. Not even a Peacekeeper. It's a ghost town.

"Where is everyone?", I ask the group, but no one answers. I only get shrugs of their shoulders. Our jog turns into a cautious and careful walk. From shops to offices, everything's closed. It's almost like... "It's a trap," I whisper. Everyone freezes and looks at me. "No, I know what happened," Finnick says. Everyone turns at looks at him now. "I bet that word got out about the bombing of the Victors' Village so they ordered everyone into their houses," he says. "Seems logical," Loffia says. "Then this is all for nothing," Eden says. "No, that's why we need to get everybody out of their houses," I say. "Hello?", I hear a voice whisper. Then from the corner of my eye, I see a woman leaning out from an apartment window. I point up at her and she catches everyone's attention. "Are you... But you're dead," she says. "Don't worry. We're still alive. You need to help us get everyone out of this apartment block," Finnick says. "Why?", the young woman asks. "We need to speak to everyone at the Justice Building. We're here to fight back," I say. Smiling, she says "Okay", and vanishes from the window.

Venturing on, we make our way to the end of the street and turn on the corner to be faced with the Justice Building. "Come on," Eden says. We storm on down the road and I spot eyes peering out from behind curtains in all the apartment windows. Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua scurry up the staircase to the left of the Justice Building and arrive on the room. They fiddle with their cameras and the back of the gigantic television screens, and suddenly, the screens come to life with an image of Boniqua's face. "They're on!", I shout up to them, but my voice blares out from the speakers propped beneath the screens. I look around to see if anyone heard me, and apparently people did. Curtains are pulled back from windows on all the buildings and everyone stares out at us. Everyone looks at us confused, some scared, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that we're not gunmen sent from the Capitol to murder them, but to realize that we're the "dead" victors. "Speak while you have their attention," says Finnick. We scurry up onto the stage and I see that they're all still looking, now with smiles on their faces. "Citizens of District 4," I say aloud. While some people open their windows, others start flowing in crowds out from the entrances to the apartments. "Today, I'd like to alert you that Eden, Finnick and I are still alive." Everyone comes running up and they stop right at the edge of the stage, cheering loudly.

"President Fraux tried to bomb our houses, but we outsmarted him. We escaped to U-District 4, an underground District for District 4's rebels," Eden says. The crowds fall silent and they all start listening closely. "There's one U-District to represent each and every District in Panem, and we've come here today to recruit new rebels. Don't stop fighting. Don't stop defying. Do whatever it takes to weaken the Capitol!", she shouts. "One hundredth years of twenty three innocent kids has taken a step too far! Now, we must fight back!". Her voice starts cracking, and when I turn to look at her, I see tears streaming down her face. "Fraux killed our families when he bombed our houses, now we must do the same to his own! No matter how much they kill our children, no matter how much they bomb us, and now matter how much they execute us, we must fight back!", she screams. She takes a step back and buries her face into her hands. Then I walk up to the front of the stage. "And here's a personal message to President Fraux," I begin. "You may think you can control us, and you may think that we're just mere puppets, but all shows can go horribly wrong and end early! It may have taken us one hundredth years, but we are soon going to change Panem for the better. We are going to find you, kill you and there will be no strings on us anymore!".

You can almost hear a pin drop. Everyone slowly places three fingers on their lips and raises their arms up into the air. "Down with Fraux! Down with Fraux! Down with Fraux!", the crowd begin to cheer after the moment of silence. I don't know why I was so oblivious. I should have seen it coming, because suddenly out of nowhere, around twenty Peacekeepers flood the street. "Shoot!", I scream. Loffia, Fry, Eden and I all stand side by side with our guns raised. "Follow me!", Loffia screams, and so I shall. She leaps forward off the stage, and we all follow. Midair, I pull back on the trigger and I watch as my bullet shoots through a Peacekeeper's suit. While half the crowd scream in terror, as I expected, every single one of them, including the screamers, charge at the Peacekeeper's forcefully. They bash them about with about fifteen people attacking each of them. "Dathan! Get this one!", a man shouts at me. I split up from the others and I head towards the crowd holding a Peacekeeper down. When I break through the barrier of citizens, I watch as one of them snatches the Peacekeeper's gun and shoots him through the head. Everyone cheers and he continues to rapidly blast the bullets at him, making sure the job is done.

I head in a different direction, and as Loffia, Fry and Eden all shoot at Peacekeepers, I feel an arm wrap around me. Locking around my throat, I can barely tilt my head down to see a bright white Peacekeeper sleeve. I struggle for air as I try to pull his arm from his arm from my throat, but I stand still when I feel his gun press against my temple. "Let him go!", Eden screams at him, getting the attention of everyone. The citizens continue to hold down the Peacekeepers, but they all tilt their heads and stare at me. Eden, her gun pointed straight over my head, looks angry and as determined as ever. It's funny, because a second ago she was crying. Now she looks like a proper soldier. "I said let him go!", she screams, but it only makes the Peacekeeper force his gun into my temple even harder. That's when I remember my gun. I slowly tilt my hand back, and all that I can do now is hope that it's aiming at his leg. I can't breathe at all and I know that if I don't shoot, I'm going to be dead. I pull the trigger and his grasp around my neck releases. I hear the bang of his gun, but the bullet whizzes over my shoulder and hits the ground. I sprint towards Eden and I watch as the Peacekeeper drops to the ground, his blood staining his snow white uniform. Eden still has her gun raised, and I'm startled when she fires the one last bullet that finishes him off. I have to unravel his fingers from around the gun and I toss it to Finnick, but that's when I see another Peacekeeper coming up behind him.

"Look out!", I scream. Loffia, Fry and Finnick dodge out of the way of my bullet and I watch as it smashes through the Peacekeeper's helmet. The black glass on the front of the helmet shatters, revealing the bloodied and mangled human face. It's only when I see the human flesh that I remember they're all people. It won't hold me back from killing them, in fact, it will make me want to kill them even more. The fact that actual people could support such evilness sickens me. They're all just as bad as Fraux. Eden shoots the last Peacekeeper being held down by the rebels and everyone begins to cheer. Then I see Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua with their cameras, broadcasting everything to the screens. "It's still recording everything even though it's on the screens," Hirk tells me. This is actually perfect. All of this was caught on camera. All we need to do is let all the other Districts see this, then they'll be definitely on our side again. It looks like this war has just begun.

"You see what we can do with your help? We can defeat the Capitol!", I yell out to the crowds, followed by lots of cheers. Finnick whispers to me that we better go back to U-District 4, so I begin to wrap things up. "We'll see you all very soon, but if anymore Peacekeepers come back, you have all these guns to fight them with," I say, looking at all the weapons lying in the Peacekeepers' hands. "Goodbye." Before we leave, Keeka disconnects the cameras' signals to the screens and they all cut black. It looks like the Peacekeepers kept everyone in their homes. I guess it's good that we came here today before their hope was completely lost. The Capitol may have poured water all over the fire, but there was still one small flickering flame left, and with that last flame, we have reignited it into a full on blazing fire. No matter how hurt we will get in this war, no matter how hurt we get in this fire, this blaze will burn forever until justice is served.

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**So this is my first chapter with over 4,000 words without this 'end of chapter message' thingy! Yay! :D**

**It doesn't surprise me considering this chapter was very action packed. What did you think of it? Get excited for this rebellion, because it's going to be crazy... No! You shall not get any foreshadowing out of me! You shall not know what happens! And considering this is the final story in this series, there is going to be some sad events.. :'(**

**If you liked this chapter, please leave a review as it inspires me greatly to continue writing! **

**Also, I have a bit of a problem... I'm going on vacation tomorrow and I won't be back til Sunday... so... I'm going to have to write write and WRITE my *** off tomorrow morning until night when I leave. If I rush and only make shorter chapters, I'll probably be able to get three done by tomorrow, and I don't want to rush them. I'm aiming for two, so there's that. Leave the days you want the two chapters in a review down below! Do you want one tomorrow and on Friday? Thursday and on Saturday? Let me know! :)**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee :)**


	10. Taken

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

In order to flee before the Capitol send anymore Peacekeepers, we all group back together and rush back across the field. Once we enter the deep forest, I scan the area in case of any Peacekeepers. The place seems clear for the most part, but I keep feeling like there's someone behind us. Every time I turn around, the presence vanishes. Must be an animal or something...

Sprinting across the final field, Finnick speaks into his watch to open the door on the side of the mountain, and it suddenly swings open. We climb up the slope a couple of meters and we fall into the heated room in a pant. "I'll take them cameras. Thank you very much," says Finnick swiping the cameras out of Hirk, Keeka and Boniqua's hands the second they fall through the doorway. He ditches us all and vanishes out the door at the end of the expansive hall. Taking our time and exploring the room, we take a look at the shelves of bombs and rockets. Over in the top right corner is where they contain the hovercrafts. Not a second goes by in here that no one's not in a rush to do something. People bash into us and rudely say "Watch where you're looking!". We eventually leave and I split up with everyone to go back to my room and get changed into my regular uniform. I decide to pass on another training session, so when I go to the canteen for breakfast, I find that it's shut. A woman passing by tells me that it'll be back open at seven for dinner. I go back to my room to take a nap considering I'm exhausted, and when I wake up and look at the clock, it's eleven. I leave and knock on Eden's door and she lets me in.

"Well, how are you doing after that?", she asks. "I'm very tired," I say. "If you're tired after that, what are you going to be like in a fully fleshed war?", she replies. I shrug. "I guess we should go to Finnick to see if there's any updates," she whispers. We leave her bedroom and when we arrive at the meeting room, Finnick lets us both in. "So what's happening?", I ask. "So, I sent the footage to the U-District 3 commanders, and they told us that the Capitol's television system is poor," he explains. "And that means?", I say. "That means that all they have to do is edit the footage and get rid of all the boring bits. Displaying it on television for all of Panem to see is surprisingly going to be the easy bit," he answers.

I eventually feel prepared enough for some more action, so I beg Eden to come to training with me. When we arrive, Kit spots us and lets us skip the queue to the top. Armed with guns again, we're lined up at the starting line, but he quickly comes over to us. "For you two," he says, handing me a spear and a quiver full of arrows to Eden. "Finnick ordered me to give you these. Apparently you used them this morning," he continues and then scurries into the waiting room. "My bow!", exclaims Eden. She pulls the little box out from a pocket on the side of the quiver and swings it around her back. She unfolds it and it locks in place; a perfect bow. "Three, two, one."

This time, there's not much of a catch to the game. Usually there's around six Peacekeepers, but now there's around twenty five. This should be easy, and a good way to practice with my spear. I raise the metal rod and we both sprint towards the crowd, but it's too late for them to shoot. I let my spear fly from my hands and I watch as bullets shoot out from little holes along it, killing around seven Peacekeepers. The tip of the spear lodges into one last enemy and the bullets stop. Looks like that's eight now. The bodies explode and the remaining Peacekeepers are covered in blood, my spear dropping to the ground when the body it's in explodes. Eden raises her bow and shoots an arrow. It pierces straight through the soft fabric on the Peacekeeper's hand and sticks out on the other side a slight bit. Scrambling on the floor, I decide to get him out of the torture and I shoot bullets at him. Now there's only sixteen. An easy way to take them out would be with my spear, but that's in a pool of blood in the middle of them. I've got to go in.

I wave my hand at Eden to make her follow me, and we go in blazing our guns. She tosses her bow on the ground so she can get an easy grip on the gun and she takes down a couple of enemies. I dive into the crowd and they aim their guns at me. Shielding will be useless and begging for mercy would be useless, considering they're only robots. I quickly swipe my gun and toss my spear, watching as the bullets take them all down. I sprint back towards Eden to retrieve it, only to find that there's four left. "One," I say aloud, and then I toss my spear and watch as the bullets kill one and the spear impales the other. "Two," Eden says. Then she picks up her bow from the ground and takes an arrow out of her quiver. The Peacekeepers try to aim at her, but the blood covered over the facial parts of their helmets isn't helping them at all. Her arrow lands directly in a Peacekeeper's heart and it explodes. "Three," we both say in union. She must know what I want to do. We both raise our guns and fire rapidly at the one last enemy. Once the motionless body blasts open, Kit tells us through the speakers to come back to the start, even though it's only a couple of meters away.

"Excellent job!", he exclaims. "You're definitely ones to watch!". Eden and I both leave and head back to our rooms, only to be called up to the meeting room over the intercom by Finnick. Alongside Keeka, Fry and all the others, Finnick tells us something very interesting. "After the footage airs on television tonight, I'd like for you all to head to the District 4 train station." Everyone asks him why, and he says because "We need to see the effect our videos have". Everyone, including me, agrees immediately and he says to come back here at nine thirty. That's just after dinner ends. Perfect. Eden and I go back to our rooms and chat for a while, really just letting the hours waste away. When it comes to dinner, we sprint out towards the cafeteria and we're one of the first ones to arrive. Spaghetti covered in a meaty, tomato sauce seems to be the main meal with a glass of water which counts for "our sides". Seems a bit unfair. We sit down and savage through our meal, dirtying the table with the sauce. Then I suddenly hear static which pierces everyone's ears. The whole canteen squeals from the sound, but it suddenly goes away. Within a moment, the huge screens propped up on the walls come to life with an image of me.

I tell the camera how we're going to District 4, to show how we're still alive. Walking through the forest, across the field and then over the fence, everything is being shown but some parts are slightly shortened. Everyone in the canteen falls completely silent, some even dropping their trays in shock. Sure, I guess they didn't know we were going to be doing this. Then it comes to the Justice Building. Eden and I give our speech which attracts everyone to come outside. Listening to it back, or just seeing it back, makes it feel so much more powerful. There's no way this can't inspire everyone. The Peacekeepers arrive, and the part where I was being strangled seems to be cut. In fact, this entire section is shortened, but it still shows the Peacekeepers being defeated. The screen turns black and everyone in the canteen shares a moment of silence. Just like in the footage, everyone places three fingers on their lips and then raise their hands up into the air, saluting. Then just like in the footage once again, they all start chanting: "Down with Fraux!". I can barely hear Finnick's voice over the intercom telling us to come to the meeting room after we get changed into our soldier outfits.

Eden and I sprint back to our rooms and step out with our guns armed, her also with her bow and I with my spear. Luckily everyone's in the canteen, that way there's nobody to be frightened desperately when they walk by us. Finnick lets us into the room and we seem to be last. "Is everybody ready?", he asks. "Yes, President Odair," everyone shouts, but I giggle at it. I find it more funny then serious. Finnick leads us back to the expansive hall where we were this morning and out towards the door. "Just like earlier, if there's any problems, you come back here. The Capitol know about us now so anything could happen," he cautiously says. We all nod and he pushes open the doorway. I can tell how truly frightened he is when he has his gun aimed to fire already, even though there's no one outside. He hops out the door and I can hear him bang against the ground with a thud. We wait for him to say "Safe," but we don't hear it. "Finnick?", Loffia calls out, peeking outside, but she suddenly gasps. "What's wrong?!", I scream, pushing my way up the front. When I look outside, I barely catch a glimpse of his horrified face being pulled away by two armed men towards a hovercraft. The engine of the hovercraft revs up so I order everyone outside. I sprint towards the men and I shoot my gun, but the bullets only make a slight dent in their armor. They force Finnick's gun out of his hand and he screams for help, but I know it's too late. Up the ramp and into the darkness, the hovercraft shoots off into the sky and I watch a couple of meters away from where it used to be. "What happened? Where's Finnick?", are only little of the questions that they all press on me, but I only say one thing: "I told you all to come out! Now he's gone because I didn't have any help!". There's no point in arguing with them anymore. We have to face the consequences; Finnick's gone, and the only place he could be taken to is the Capitol. I knew that there was something behind me when we were walking back. They must have followed us. This is no time to start crying, we must carry on, get to the Capitol, kill Fraux and free Finnick. If Fraux thought that this would make us call mercy, he's completely wrong. This is only going to make us more determined, and then when we get to him, he'll be the one calling mercy.

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**Understand why this section is called "PART II, The Abduction"? **

**Anyways, I need to tell you all that whenever this chapter is posted (I haven't decided yet), you won't be getting another til Sunday. I'm very sorry, but as I said, I'm going on vacation, and by the time I post this chapter, I'll already be in Spain. And no, I'm not bringing my laptop because there's no space and there's a risk of losing it. And no, I can't write the next chapter on my iPhone considering I won't have word documents. :(  
**

**If you liked this chapter, please leave a review! It was a short and less detailed one, I know, but I was in a rush to write this considering I'm leaving soon. **

**Stay tuned for the next chapter on Sunday! Thank you so much for reading, byeeeee :)**

**UPDATE: It's officially day two of Spain! I wrote the above before I left home on Tuesday. Get ready for another chapter on Sunday! Byeeee :)**


	11. Walking Towards Death

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

"What do you mean he's gone?!", Crimette screams at us all as we sit down at the meeting room table. "Are you deaf? He's been kidnapped by Capitol troops!", I snap at her. She slams her hand down onto the steel desk. "Ms. O Shea, you were with him so you're to blame too," she teases. "It's not her fault! In fact, it's your fault!", Dathan growls at her. She spins her head and stares at him, her face looking irritated. "Since Odair is gone, and that I'm the Vice President, I'm now given the right to become the President for the time being. I recommend that you obey me," she whispers eerily. President Crimette. That title doesn't flow well. "It doesn't matter now. With or without Odair, we'll still push on towards the Capitol," she says. "And when will that be?", I ask. "As soon as you all go back up to the train station," she replies. "But the Capitol have soldiers on the surface waiting for us!", Boniqua shouts. "Well you all better go up and kill them. The train station is where some of their troops will be arriving." And with that, Crimette speaks into her microphone clipped onto her shirt and guards storm in, escorting us back to the doorway to District 4.

All I can think of is that we're going to die. Crimette must want us dead. Why else would she do this? No, I'm over thinking this too much. She's just plain stupid. Finnick's just been abducted and this is how she treats us. Back to the surface in the middle of riots. Who says that the Capitol hovercrafts are gone? Who says that _we're _not going to be taken away? All of this only makes me question who Crimette really is and what is going on in her mind. The guards contain us all in a semicircle around the door, not budging at all. "There's no time to waste. We have to stay strong and carry on," Keeka urges, but no one talks back. Heads down with depressed looks on their faces, everyone seems dull. "If we give up now, we'll never get Finnick back. The Capitol will continue to prevail," I say. "I'm with Eden on this. We need to get back on track. We can do this," Fry says. When heads start to rise I push open the door and an icy blast of air breezes past me. "Let's go! We can do this!", Dathan shouts. I wink at him. Everyone walks towards me and I stand to the side to let them jump out. The last one, I leap out and I land on the soaking grass. Grey clouds loom over us in the sky, pelting down buckets of rain. A clap of thunder pierces our ears and a zap of lightning blasts through the darkness, illuminating the tall buildings of District 4 in the distance. "That way," I point out the skyscrapers.

Filed up one by one, we march across the field, through the forest and straight towards the fence that seals us away from the city. Not a single hovercraft flies in the ash sky, nor any Peacekeepers roaming the streets. Everything seems too perfect for us. Too quiet, all except the hordes of citizens that storm around with nothing to do. No enemies to attack or kill. When we hop over the fence, everyone turns to face us. "Everyone, our next step is to take the train station. That is where the Peacekeepers will be arriving!", I shout out. "Follow me!". Sprinting down the streets, taking every turn, we're all leading thousands of rebels. It feels so weird to have so many people listen to you. When we arrive at the train station, it seems to be abandoned. I start to walk slowly with my gun raised, but everyone else doesn't agree with my method. The citizens all scream and charge past us, storming onto the railway and some into the departure zone. We rush into the building and past all the stops, but there's nothing here at all. "Where are the Peacekeepers?", I ask, but everyone shrugs. But my question is finally answered when I see bright headlights of a speeding train coming towards us.

"Fire!", Loffia shrieks, and I follow her order. Bringing down the glass windows into shards, the slick white uniforms come into view. But not for too long, because when our bullets create little red dots all over their suits, they drop down behind the window frames. The train comes to a slow stop and the two doorways swing open. Dozens of Peacekeepers come out from the exits and they raise their guns. Before I know it, the citizens are attacking them mercilessly. Some even with mallets and kitchen knives that I haven't spotted them with yet. We shoot into the pile of snow until it turns into a pile of blood and lifeless bodies. "Good job," Fry says. He's about to say one more thing, but his voice falls silent when sounds of explosions set off. I rush towards the exit, but a blast of smoke and rumble sends me backwards onto the tiles. Dathan helps me up and we manage to dodge out of the way just before the tall walls crash onto us. Vibrations rumble throughout the ground as we run towards another exit. We then fall out the doorway and onto the pebbly surface just as the roof caves in. One last puff of smoke shoots out from the ruins of the station and the walls fortunately fall down away from us. "Is everyone okay?", I ask, scanning around. But there's no time to rest. I see a hovercraft up in the sky releasing an object down onto one of the apartments. I then watch as the building blows up and collapses. Bombs.

"We need to run!", Keeka urges us, but that's when I notice someone is missing. Dathan's here, Boniqua's here... Fry's hand sticks out from underneath the fallen pillars and I know that he's gone. Loffia thugs on his arm, tears streaming down her face, but I tell her that there's no point. He just couldn't make it out on time. That's one gunman down. Now there's only me, Dathan and Loffia. Only three to fend for us all. That's not going to work out. The hovercraft bombing the city lowers and rests on the ground near us. We dive behind the trees and stay put, waiting for something to happen. I peek around the bark and I catch glimpse of the ramp falling with a few Peacekeepers stepping out. Now there's even more trouble. I dive out and sprint towards him, everyone calling my name, but I ignore them. I shoot my gun and I watch as the targets fall to the ground. I sprint up the ramp just as it begins to close, and I'm left in pitch black. That's when my suit begins to faintly glow green, lighting up my surroundings. I creep towards a door in front of me and kick it open, revealing a shocked pilot who screams in terror. I try to pull on the trigger, but my brain tells me not to. I can't. He's frightened terribly. Now he's on his knees, begging me not to. But if I don't, he'll escape. He'll find another way back to safety. Another way to pass back information. My bullet frees a trickle of blood in his neck and he falls face first onto the ground.

Suddenly, the glass windows shatter into pieces and Loffia orders me out. I climb over the control panel and I slide out into the rain. "Got them," I say, but they don't want to hear any of it. "You could have been killed!", they all scream at me, but I manage to coax them back into a relaxed state. We ring around to the front of the train station to find the thousands of citizens staring at the wreckage. A few soulless bodies lay by their feet, but they share a moment of silence. It seems like we're safe now considering there's no more hovercrafts or Peacekeepers, so we make our way to the top of the crowds. "As we have just witnessed, the Capitol will do anything to destroy us. To eliminate us. To defeat us. And this is all because we oppose a threat," Dathan begins. "Once again, they could not destroy us, eliminate us, or defeat us, all because we are united together as one. I speak for all of us in the U-Districts when I say this. We are proud for your courage and bravery. With the hope that travels within you, our world can be changed for the better."

"To whoever out there who is not on our side, can you not see what the Capitol do to us?", I but in. "Just look at this!", I shout, pointing behind me at the ruins of the train station. "The only thing they do is destroy us! But as we will prove within the next few days, when they try to destroy us, we will only fight back! We may kill tons of our own, even more than the hundreds of fallen tributes in all one hundred years of the Games in this battle, but I can guarantee you that the Capitol with not go excused. Not any of them!". Just like the last time, everyone does the three fingered salute. "Today was District 4. Tomorrow, the Capitol!", are the last words that Dathan shouts out. Everyone cheers frantically. Keeka taps on my shoulder. "How would you feel about getting footage of the Victors' Village?".

It takes us a while to get their by feet, but when we do arrive, the clouds of ash have barely settled. All of the houses are gone. All that's left are piles of rubble. Where our houses stood, the piles of rock cover the secret tunnel to U-District 4, luckily. Then I see Finnick's. Just like ours, it's been turned to waste. First, his home. Second, him altogether. He's probably dead now, just like Fry. And just like Fry, it was in Fraux's hands. He sent the hovercrafts, obviously.

The flashing red light on Boniqua's camera brings me back to the real world. "This-", I try to start speaking, but I just can't speak. My throat feels like it's clogged up, but not from the waves of smoke that fill the air. I feel like dropping to the ground and bursting out in tears. "I want to go home," I choke. "We're only wasting time. Hovercrafts could be sent here any minute, so let's not waste any time trying to get lots of footage. All we need is a few shots of the ruins," says Boniqua. We march back across the fields and across the seashores until we get back to U-District 4. Immediately, we head to the meeting room. I barge in first and I catch a glimpse of Fraux's sneaky face filling up the entire wall with Crimette staring at it. But it's not just an image, considering he's moving slightly. It's a video call. "Don't worry, President. With me in charge, they won't suspect a thing," Crimette says. "What is this?", I ask, and she spins around to look at me. Her jaw drops and she quickly hits the power button on her remote. His face begins to fade and it suddenly vanishes. She tries to spit out an answer, but she can't.

"Why were you chatting to Fraux?", Boniqua asks. But she refuses to answer. "She's a betrayer. A backstabber. She's working with the Capitol!", Dathan begins to scream. I would have expected for everyone to think he's going crazy again, but no one's stopping him. "She's Fraux's puppet!".

"Oh Dathan, just shush before I drown you again," she says, stepping out from behind the table. "No. I suppose I'll go for the electric chair," she chuckles. Within an instant, she's got a firm grip on a handgun that she pulls out from her pocket, aiming it straight at Dathan. "Let's try a new method. Bullet-to-the-head," she laughs, and after that, she pulls on the trigger.

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**I'm back from vacation! From now on, you'll be getting these chapters more often, so I hope you enjoy them!**

**What did you think of this chapter? Let me know in a review! What do you think about Fry's death? What about that cliffhanger with the gun? And what about Crimette?!**

**It's really fun writing these chapters with some action in them, so I hope you stay tuned for the next one ;)**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	12. Betrayal

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

It wasn't quite bullet-to-the-head, as the bullet hit his chest. But he doesn't drop to the ground dead. Instead, the bullet reflects off of his armor and is sent back into Crimette's forehead. Her grasp on the gun loosens and she drops it. Then she drops herself. I look at everyone, but the puzzled expressions on their faces show just how confused they are as me. "What-", Dathan begins to gasp. I catch and stabilize him just before he falls unconscious. It's not until I see Crimette's twitching hand reaching out for the shotgun that I rush over to swipe it up. She lets out a choking sound, and I finish her off with another bullet, her blonde hair dipping into a small pool of blood by the blast.

The shocked looks everyone gives me makes me speak up. "She was a betrayer," I say, pointing at the lifeless body. "She's been working under Fraux's control all this time. I bet Finnick doesn't even know." A crackling noise of stacking echoes throughout the room. "Crimette?", I hear Fraux's sour voice calling out. "Crimette! Are you there?". I stare at the wall where his face once was, but there's nothing but grey steel. I think I'm hearing things, but I know that that's not the case when Keeka asks who is saying these things. I glance over at the computer hidden away in the corner to see that it's illuminating the wall with light. That's when I realize that the projection may be taken off of the wall, but the video call isn't over.

Even though my brain is discouraging me, I force myself to unravel Crimette's cold, bloodied fingers to free the remote. When I tap the power button, Fraux's face shines bright on the wall. I step right in front of the image and his jaw drops. "Eden? It is quite amazing to see you here," he laughs. "How do you know Crimette?", I ask him. "How do _you _know Crimette?", he repeats. "Tell me now!", I scream, clearly not tolerating any nonsense. "Oh, Eden. You're still only a naive, little girl," he teases. "Listening to radicals around you down there is only going to brainwash you." He then reaches out for something behind the camera, and when it comes into view, it appears to be a glass. He sips on the thick, purple liquid, pouting out his lips. That's when it hits me. Back at the celebration party at his mansion, Dathan and I were given drinks just like this one. Nightlock Kisses.

"You're the only person brainwashing us! In fact, you've been brainwashing all of Panem! But it won't matter anymore, because we'll change this country so we're given equality!", I scream. He lets out a loud laugh and tosses his glass away, followed by a smashing sound that screeches into everyone's ears. "You need to remember something important, Eden. Your strings won't break easily, and if you mange to break them, you won't land on the ground too safely," he whispers. "I won't listen to idiots like you!", I hiss. "Yes, that's right... But you will certainly be forced to listen to Finnick's final screams." And with that, he steps out of view and the projection cuts black.

A flashing light glows on the top of Boniqua, Hirk and Keekas' cameras, and I know that they've been filming it all. "He's going to kill Finnick," are the only words that come out of Dathan's mouth, progressively getting louder. Now there's no one. We have no leader to control us. Finnick's gone. Crimette is dead. Now all that's left are a bunch of crazy rebels. This is quickly turning into a disaster. "What are we going to do now?", Hirk asks. My voice refuses to come out of my mouth and I feel my throat closing in. Luckily, Boniqua answers for me. "We're going to kill that man as soon as possible!", she growls. "But we have no one to direct us!", Keeka exclaims. "Well why don't Eden and Dathan direct us? They can be our leaders!", Boniqua says. "I agree," says Dathan. "Eden, we could do this together. As a team." I'm guessing that they were expecting for me to say no, because when I hop right on board they're a bit taken aback. "There's no more waiting. We have to leave for the Capitol soon," I say. And with that, everyone agrees.

We glare at Crimette's body, thinking about what to do. None of us want to be the one to carry her out, but even at that, to where? A cunning plan pops into my brain. I order everyone to stay put as I go to the hospital where Dathan was being kept. I come back with a nurse and two men who prop the body up on trolley. "Wait!", I yell just as they're about to leave. I catch their attention and they come to a stop. "Don't try and revive her," I say. They look at me puzzled. Then I just spurt out something completely random. "There'll be a meeting at the Hub today. You'll see why." After that, they nod and leave. Oh crap. "A meeting at the Hub? And how are you going to organize that?", Dathan asks. Then I point to the speaker over in the corner. We need to show everyone everything that happened. The bombing of the train station. Fry's death. Crimette's betrayal. Fraux's video chat. _Everything._ It may not be edited down into a short tape, but it will have to do.

After convincing everyone, I walk over to the speaker sitting on the wall. I tap on it and it begins to faintly glow green. Green must mean to start, right? "Citizens of U-District4; I know it is very late right now, but this is important. I need everyone, even working staff members, to come to the Hub immediately." I tap it once more and the green fades away. "Nice job," Dathan says. I smile. Hirk and Loffia know a lot about U-District 4 considering they've been here before Dathan and I, and they think that the entrance to the balcony over the Hub is through a door at the back of the meeting room. Apparently it is, because when we step out into chilly hallway, we hear the chatters of people down below. I peer out over the edge and everyone falls silent when they see me. Hirk and Loffia take the cameras and scurry into a closet-like room filled with switches and wires off to the left. Luckily the microphone stand is still here from the last time. We wait for a few minutes for everyone to gather and then I begin.

"Citizens. Earlier today, President Odair was abducted by Capitol troops," I say. The silence breaks and everyone begins to roar in horror. "The Vice President, Crimette, ordered us all back up to District 4 when danger was clearly lurking. She sabotaged us. And unfortunately, one of our partners in our troop was killed in a bombing of the train station. When we arrived back home, we caught Crimette talking to Fraux via a video call. Let's watch what happened." The screens that ring around the walls of the Hub come to life with an image of the entrance to District 4. The whole fiasco unfolds but the only important shot was of the hovercraft taking off into the sky with Finnick. Luckily, it's not hard to understand what happened for all the people here. The footage then cuts straight to us walking back across the fields and into the city. The explosion of the building. The bombing of the train station. Fry being squashed by the debris. Everything that's shown angers the crowd. "Down with Fraux! Down with Fraux!", they all begin to chant, the phrase echoing around the room. After the Victors' Village, we come to the most important part: Crimette. Good thing they caught footage of everything that happened. After Crimette dies and after Fraux and I have a chat, the screens cut black and everyone begins to chant the phrase again. "Down with Fraux! Down with Fraux!".

"Thank you all for being here today. As there is no one to lead us, Dathan and I have decided that we're best to rule U-District 4 until Finnick is freed", I say. They all cheer. Good thing they're happy with that, otherwise I don't know what would have to happen. I sign off and we enter into the meeting room, away from the chanting. The minute everyone leaves, we all head back to our rooms. We split up and Dathan and I say goodnight to each other just as we divide. Every time my eyelids are about to shut, another worry pops into my head and they spring back open. I can only image what destruction this war will cause, both physically and mentally. Dathan's already been through enough pain and suffering; I just can't image what he'll be like in the Capitol, struggling to keep himself alive. In fact, I worry for them all. What if they all die and I'm the only one left? What if _I _die? "When the Puppetmaster dies and drops the strings that hold you up, you will be left just as still and motionless as a puppet." I still haven't forgotten Fraux's quote. It was only a vision when he said it, but it still frightens me. What does he mean by it? I'm guessing that when he dies, I'll die too. Next thing I know, it says seven fifteen on the clock.

"Could squad thirteen please come to area E-2 immediately wearing their armor and with their equipment, thank you," Kit's voice echoes throughout my room. That's us. I get changed and I bring my bow and my gun along. I meet up with Dathan and we arrive at training alongside the others. "I've got very important news," Kit says. "The other U-Districts have confirmed that they have enough soldiers, bombs, explosives and other things to go into battle tomorrow, and so we will. Get ready, because tomorrow morning is the start of something new." It takes me a moment to process that. We are going to the Capitol tomorrow morning. We are going into battle tomorrow morning... People are going to die tomorrow morning. Destruction will be caused tomorrow morning. Everything will be plunged into hell tomorrow morning. I finally come back to myself the second my foot slips and I tumble to the ground. Dathan leaps to save me and he helps me back up. "Anyway, take these," Kit continues. He then plucks large, grey, potato-shaped objects from a box behind him and hands one to each of us. "They're called jawts. They'll will aid you on your journey. If you need anything like a bandage, you hit this button." Then screens light up on everyone's jawt with a big, red button flashing in the middle. "If you're planning to request for something, you need to hide. Our hovercrafts can't drop off items instantly, but the tracking devices in the jawts will help us greatly."

He then explains that today's final training session will be a mixture of everything that we've done before. We're each given a special gun with only three bullets each, so we must shoot carefully. The countdown hits zero and we charge down the familiar Capitol street. It usually takes a while, but this time the head Peacekeeper appears instantly. Storming around the corner, shooting it's gun rapidly, this one is like none other we have faced before. After carefully aiming, I shoot a bullet, only to watch as it bounces back off and shatters a shop window. "The hit spot must be on the back, just like last time," Keeka says. With her loose, blonde locks waving around, I stand still and stare as she prances over the bullets like a ballerina. She's coming up close to the Peacekeeper, and she's not getting fearful at all. By the look on her face, she's only getting more determined. She grabs the Peacekeeper by the helmet and slams it down onto the tarmac. She blasts the hit point on the back of it's helmet and the body explodes.

"Already?", Kit calls out. "You guys are great!". Indeed, we are. Kit gives us upgraded guns with "unlimited amounts of bullets". I head back to my room to drop off my new gun and my jawt and then I head for breakfast at the canteen. We all sit at the same bench and slurp on our porridge while Kit orders different squads to come to training over the intercom, just like we were. It's almost impossible to think that all of us could be dead tomorrow. I can only imagine what's going on in their heads right now, especially Dathan. I don't want him to get hurt. And I almost forgot about what Kit told us; the pods. The Capitol streets are going to be filled with them. Even with thousands of rebels to help us, the pods will surely take out a lot of us. Fraux's going to be prepared for whatever we throw at him. And for Finnick, he-

The Capitol anthem booms out around the canteen and the plasma flat screens propped up on the walls show the Capitol logo. Then Fraux suddenly appears sitting at his desk. "Citizens of Panem. As you all know, there have been a string of violent and inhuman acts of destruction set around this country," he begins. "War is not the solution, so I suggest that everyone lays down their weapons immediately." The canteen begin to chant the phrase again: "Down with Fraux! Down with Fraux!".

"But you must note that I merely said "suggest". For if you don't lay down your weapons, if you don't stop defying me...", he growls.

"...well, I certainly won't have a problem with killing your only hope."

A seventy five hour timer suddenly appears and ticks down second by second in the top right corner. Then the screen flashes to Finnick. His hands are cuffed, his mouth covered with a piece of duct tape, and most horrifying, there's holes all around his body with bloodied ropes knotted through them. From what he's going through, he should be dead, but he faintly moves around which alerts me that he's alive. But suddenly, the ropes are yanked up and he's suspended in the air. His muffled scream of pain echoes throughout the whole cafeteria, everyone glaring at the screens in horror. The ropes loosen, and the minute he's lowered back to the ground, he collapses and falls.

"Let this be a warning to all the rebels out there," Fraux's voice continues as the image of Finnick continues to linger. "You won't be able to cut the strings that I use to keep this nation up, nor the ropes that keep Finnick Odair up once he's hanging and dying."

Next thing I know, Dathan is being pulled back by a security guard the second his metal spoon smashes one of the screens.

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**Oh my goodness! What's going to happen?! OMAGOD. What did you think of this crazy chapter? What about that semi-cliffhanger ending? Let me know in a review below!  
**

**Also, I have a bit of an announcement to make... FRIDAY 24TH OF APRIL: MOCKINGCLOVE'S STORY ANNOUNCEMENT! Yippy yee! An announcement for an announcement! So on Friday the 24th, you will be getting a story announcement! My lips are sealed... ;)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What's going to happen next?! Stay tuned for tomorrow's chapter to find out ;)  
Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeeeee :)**


	13. No Turning Back Now

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

He caused my family's death. He caused Fry's death. He has caused destruction at the District 4 train station. And now, he has kidnapped Finnick and is threatening to kill him. I slam my spoon in rage against the crystal screen and it shatters. The audio of Fraux's voice muffles and eventually stops after a few seconds of static. I feel my arm being yanked backwards, and before I know it, I'm tossed outside the canteen into a cold, empty hallway that leads back to the Hub. The look on Eden's face as she follows me out tells me that she's not scared, or worried; she's fuming. "Meeting room. Now," she shouts, and she begins to pull me along. The long passageways seem to be nearly empty, all the people either at the canteen or still in line at training, which makes it quicker for us to arrive. Eden shoves the door open and storms inside, heading straight towards the speaker. "No questions. Just listen," she says. Then she taps on the speaker which makes it illuminate green. She begins to speak.

"Citizens of U-District 4. As you may have just witnessed, the Capitol have taunted us with our president, President Odair. Sticking to our own words, we shall not call mercy. We shall not give in. We will continue to fight, to rebel, to We shall not stand for the Capitols' actions, and especially not after this live broadcast. A dying Finnick Odair can be saved, but a dying country cannot if this rebellion fails for a third time. Dathan Lynn and I have paid for our actions, but now it's Fraux's time to face the consequences. Troops will begin to be sent out tomorrow morning, so everyone must be ready. Thank you."

She sighs and collapses down onto one of the chairs up by the long desk. "This is going to be harder then I thought." We go back to training to check up with Kit, and he tells us that after long discussions with the commanders of the other U-Districts, they're one hundred percent ready to battle. And as a little surprise, he also tells us that we're going to be the main group for the U-District 4 army. Eden and I immediately head back to our rooms to get a good rest, but as my eyelids are about to shut, I hear Kit's voice once more.

"All soldiers leaving U-District 4 tomorrow must have a check up in the morning at E-2 before six thirty Alarms will be sent over the intercom to alert you. That is all."

Fortunately, I got a good sleep. Nor Fraux or my family were haunting my dreams. Instead, I remember nothing about it, and I guess that's good. Kit's voice booms into my room once again and alerts us about our check up. I put on my bulletproof body suit and I sling my quiver holding my spear over my shoulder. I carry my gun side by side with Eden as we storm down the busy hallways. People flow right past us, nervously chatting about what is to come. When we arrive, Kit catches a glimpse of us and lets us breeze right past the queue. I never expected the check up to be much like this. Eden goes first through a dark tunnel, barely being illuminated by tubes of neon blues that are embedded in the walls. It must be scanning her body, and if it's not, then I don't know what on earth it's for. She turns a corner at the end of the tunnel, and then Kit tells me to head on in after around thirty seconds.

I step in and my vision weakens. It's hard to see where I'm going, but all I do is follow the bright, blue strips of light to direct me ahead. Turning the corner at the end, I'm in a big, crystal white room filled. There seems to be other men sitting at stools, getting their long hair cut by people wearing white robes. "Dathan, is it?" a woman calls out as she approaches me. I nod cautiously. "What's this for?", I ask. "No one told you?". I shake my head. "Well, we're going to need to cut that hair a bit. Can't have you going into war with wavy locks blocking out your sight." And then I'm being pulled over to one of the empty stools. This woman clearly does not care about how I feel, because she's digging her electric razor deep into my hair abrasively. When she's done, she holds up a hand mirror to my face. "Head straight on through those doors. Thank you." My hair had grown a bit over the past month or so, and I'm betting that stress never made the growth halt. It's not too short for me to dislike it, but it still is very short. I step through another doorway to come face to face with Eden. "Dathan?" she whispers in a questioned tone. "They cut my hair," I blurt out. She tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Instead, we both just hug.

After been given backpacks full of tinned foods, we're boarded onto a small hovercraft, and once everyone else arrives including Kit, we take off. Everyone seems nervous, but Boniqua seems excited. She's always been the most rebellious one out of us all. Either that, or she's a bit crazy. It takes a couple of hours, but we eventually make it. Our hovercraft lands and we march down the ramp, out into the chilly air. At first, I think we've been dropped off at the wrong location. There's nothing but grassy fields, and that's nothing like the Capitol. But it's not until the hovercraft flies into the air out of sight that I lay my eyes on the skyscrapers shooting up into the sky. "This is it. There's no turning back now," says Keeka as we glare at the tall buildings. This _is _it. She's right. Kit leads the way as we approach a housing block on the outskirts of the city. During my time in the Capitol, I never spotted these houses, but they're still extravagant. With odd shapes and features to them all, they almost seem like cardboard cut outs.

"I've a special upgraded jawt which features a map. There's a shortcut into the city by heading through the housing estate and down the road," says Kit. And so we follow the map. Every home seems to be painted a different color, and all of them are designed completely differently. There's a thin, six story house, a large one in the shape of a sphere, and even one built underground with it's roof being made out of glass. Seems a bit weird. But what's even weirder is the lack of crazed civilians. There's no men with triangular beards, nor any women walking their rainbow colored cats. There's no one.

"Arm yourselves," Hirk whispers, raising his gun and ready to shoot. And with no hesitation, we follow his command. This place is almost too quiet. Too calm. It's too suspicious. With the Capitol being part of this war, surely they'd have Peacekeepers roaming about. But no; it's a ghost town. We continue to walk down the tarmac road, our guns ready to fire, but something up ahead catches my attention. About a meter wide and long, made of jagged, sharp and pointed blocks of metal, the pod rests in the middle of the road a couple of feet away from us. "Watch out!", I shriek, and everyone stops. They all stare at me so I begin to point at it. Kit chuckles slightly. "Looks like we're not alone here." He aims at the pod and pulls on his trigger. I then watch as the impact of the bullet makes the pod burst open, spraying out hundreds of bullets all around. "Take cover!", I scream. As each and every one of them hits our armor, they reflect right back off. But it's still too dangerous. One whizzes right past my ear, and I know that if we don't find a safe spot, we'll get shot in the one place that we're not protected; our faces.

I dive behind a lamborghini pulled up on the sidewalk and I curl into a ball. The windows of the car shatter from the bullets and glass rains down on me. I cover my ears from the sound and I await for it to end. Then the sound pauses. Carefully, I peer through the smashed out windows of the car to see if the bullets have stopped, and the pod suddenly bursts open in an explosion of ash and fire. The blast knocks me back a bit, but I manage to steady myself. I slowly crawl out from behind the car on my knees, trying to find everyone else. I'm relieved when I see Eden's bright face peeking out from behind a tree on the other side of the road. One by one, everyone comes out from their hidings places, all but one. Hirk lies in the middle of the road, his face riddled with bloody holes from the bullets. It's too disgusting to even kneel by his body. Too disgusting to try and get his last words out. Well, disgusting or not, there'd be no point, because I know he can't survive injuries like this.

"Hirk!" screams Loffia at the top of her lungs. "Hirk!". She doesn't care about his face. She sprints straight over and collapses down onto his stomach, sobbing relentlessly. "Baby, you need to stay with me. Please," she cries. "Please! Hirk! Stay with me!" It's not until she says the word "baby" to his dead body that I knew they were more then friends.

Midst all this action, a short old woman wearing a yellow dress appears in her garden. "Get away from my lawn!" she roars at us all. Our first person. Our first enemy. "Loffia, we need to go," Eden whispers to her, tapping her on her shoulder. But I shouldn't have expected anymore from Loffia. She ignores Eden and continues to sob on Hirk's dead body.

I stare at the angry, old woman, but then it hits me who she is. "Flinka!" I call her name out. "It's me! Dathan!" I begin to run towards her, but she doesn't embrace me warmly. "Little rebel, huh?", she puffs. Then she slides a gun out of her pocket. "You were supposed to follow Fraux's orders! Look at the mayhem you've caused!"Why did I think she'd be nice? She was never in U-District 4. In fact, she went back home to the Capitol the minute we arrived at the Victors' Village. She had nothing to do with the rebels. How could I be so stupid? But the more important question is, where did she get the gun?"Where did you find that?" I ask her. "President Fraux knew that you were coming soon," she growls. "Do you think he'd let his citizens go unarmed while pests like you try to murder us? I never liked you anyway, Dathan. Eden was the better the tribute." She aims the gun after me, but it's too late to shoot her. Crimette's death plays out right in front of me again, this time Flinka is playing the lead role. The bullet bounces of my armor and blasts through her yellow dress, leaving her to fall backwards onto the ground.

I try to speak with everyone else, but sounds of sirens blast and hovercrafts fly over the city. But these one's aren't rebel hovercrafts. Fit with the Capitol seal on their bases, they shoot through the air leaving a light trail of smoke. There's nowhere to hide. They must know that we're here, and they're coming to kill us. I look around frantically, but there's nowhere but behind the cars again, and that won't do. Then I spot Flinka's front door wide open. It's the only place to go.

"Come on!" I shout at the group. Eden pulls Loffia away from Hirk's body as she screams maniacally. I charge inside and I yell at everyone to hurry up. The hovercrafts are coming in closer, and at this rate, we'll all be caught if they don't hurry up. They're all in, all but Eden and Loffia. I rush outside just as the hovercrafts loom above us and I help drag Loffia along. "No! Don't leave him to die!" she cries. "Loffia, he's already dead! We need to go!" Eden screams at her. We let go of Loffia when we make it inside, and I slam the door shut. Finally, I can take a breather.

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**We've come to the beginning of the end... And the beginning of the best parts!**

**Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! I'm sorry for the delay, but I've been caught up with a few things. How do you feel that we're finally at the Capitol? This is where everything goes mental :P**

**I'm sort of wrapping up final ideas and thoughts for what's to happen next, and most importantly, the ending. I really don't want it to be typical, but I don't want to make an ending so shocking that it's just plain stupid. I want a bit of both ;)**

**Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed, please favorite and follow this story so you can stay updated when you chapters release! Thank you so much, byeeeee :)**


	14. Carry On

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

Flinka seriously must be rich. From the walls, to the ground, to the ceilings, everything is made of wool, each room having a different color. Standing in the orange front hall, I peer through the windows to lay my eyes on the landing hovercraft. The sound of the engine almost deafens me, and I watch as a group of Peacekeepers storm down the ramp and onto the road. Their attention is on Flinka, and they immediately begin to run straight towards her while a few members investigate the remains of the pod that are being engulfed in ferocious flames. "They're coming. We need to get out of here," I urge. I charge down the fabricated hallway and into a large, open kitchen. What shocks me is how even the kitchen is made of wool. This time, it's purple. And what shocks me even more is that there's an isolated pan frying a fillet of steak over on the stove. "They're here!".

I'm not sure who screamed that out, but it doesn't matter. Back where I was just standing, the front door is kicked down, and the white uniformed men file in. My first thought it to run into the living room off to the left, but there appears to be a door leading outside to the back garden. I pull on the handle and swing it open, a strong gust of wind blasting into my face. I leap outside onto the paved stone, admiring the grand fountain in the middle of the garden. But this is no time to look around. All of us together rush down the back of the garden, but it's a dead end. The only way out is over the large wall. We push Boniqua up onto the top of the wall and she proceeds to pull me up after her. I glance back through the doorway and the Peacekeepers are coming, but I see something more horrifying. Dathan manages to catch a piece of paper on fire with the stove's burning plates, and he drops it onto the floor letting the wool ignite. A line of fire begins to grow and blocks off the Peacekeepers, but they simply jump over. "Help!" he shrieks. Automatically, I drop from the wall and sprint straight to his rescue. When he gets outside, we slam the door shut as the Peacekeepers on the other side try to thug it open. "Somebody help us!" I roar to the others behind me, and they all come to aid us. The Peacekeepers' force isn't strong enough. They're finished.

Slowly, we progressively loosen our grasp on the handle and push the door open about two minutes later, laying our eyes on the blaze inside. Only a few of the Peacekeepers are laying dead, while others squirm around as the fire smothers them. We rush back towards the wall and climb up, rushing along the edge past all the gardens away from the burning house. We eventually drop into one of the gardens and shoot the back window, climbing inside and heading out the front door. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone home, so no lives had to be taken. Looking down the road, the burning house is far away, so we're safe from now. All though the hovercraft is still there, no one seems to be around it. Kit taps a few buttons on his jawt, and he continues to lead the way with his map. Luckily, no one got hurt. Well, everyone but Hirk. From the way Loffia seems to be acting, it's obvious that she's traumatized. She's not screaming anymore, but she's shaking. Shaking like a leaf. Out of all the people here, I thought that Hirk and Loffia would have been the two most strongest people. Both mentally and physically, but apparently not.

From the corner of my eye, through a house window, I see a television light up with the face of Fraux. Immediately, I point it out, and Kit gasps. "There must be a live broadcast! I can get it up right now! Hold on." He taps away on his jawt, and Fraux suddenly appears on the screen. We group together and stop to look at the video.

"Citizens of Panem," Fraux eerily whispers, his voice sounding bothered, or a bit angry. "All of the radicals who dare to disobey the orders of the Capitol have gotten their warnings already. Currently, we are under attack. But you must understand that we're not just a tough nut to crack. We are a solid rock, and we shall not crack at all. You have been given chances to end this fighting, to bring back the peace, and to restore Panem to what it once was; a happy, organized country. A marvelous place to live. But you tossed your chances aside..."

The camera then cuts to Finnick, in his familiar darkened setting with ropes through his body. Then the seventy five hour countdown reappears at the top of the screen, but this time there's only fifty six hours left.

"You want a war, eh?" Fraux continues, his voice quietening and growing more irritated and stern. "Well I'll give you a war..."

I expect for the broadcast to stop, but the image of Finnick stays on the screen, the timer continuing to beat down. "They're going to kill him once that timer hits zero," Keeka says, and she's right. "Well we better save him then," Boniqua says. "But we don't know where they're keeping him!" I exclaim. "For all we know, he could be dead by now and this broadcast was filmed!". I can just sense that they all think that's the case... Then Kit speaks up and we continue to walk. "I can guarantee you that he's in the most unexpected place: the presidential mansion."

It's a crazy guess, but if they are keeping Finnick in Fraux's mansion, then we'll get him rescued and kill Fraux all at the same time. Kit locates the mansion on his jawt and sets it as our destination, giving us the quickest route to get there. We make it to the end of the housing estate, and when we turn one final corner, we're out into an empty street. But this is no ordinary street. We're in the city. We follow the map and walk past closed up shops and different types of boutiques, each one having crazy clothing items in the windows. But what makes it creepy is that just like the housing estate, this place is completely empty. Not a single person nor a car roams around. Fraux must have ordered everyone into their homes. But the only thing to let us know that this place isn't abandoned are the massive screens propped up on the sides of the skyscrapers, showing off the live footage of Finnick and the countdown.

Suddenly, I hear a couple of explosions and shots of guns off in the distance. Then a group of seven rebels storm the road a bit away from us, their outfits just like ours. They definitely aren't from the regular Districts, because they don't have armor like that, so they must be rebels from one of the U-Districts. I then watch as a lone Peacekeeper chases after them, killing two of them with their gun, but then the group turns around and riddles him with bullets. "Be ready for any attacks. They're sending out Peacekeepers," I say. Everyone nods and we continue on. Our guns are raised and ready to fire, and the second I see another pod, I jump back. That one back at the houses must have been for defense, but this one looks more dangerous. Almost doubled in size, the pod sits meters away from us, just waiting to be activated. "Don't move an inch," Dathan whispers, and we all follow his order. "Should we shoot it?" I ask, but everyone shakes their head. If it's anything like the last time, we'll be dead. This time there's no cars to protect us from another shower of bullets. The only things here to hide us are a few lampposts, but their slender, steel bodies won't shield us fully. But suddenly, I hear a cackle. Almost as bad as the witch's cackle back in the Games. I look up and she a woman dangling out of her apartment window, staring at us with an evil grin. "You ruined our country! Now, I'm going to ruin your lives!" The book that's she's holding is freed from her grasp and it smacks the top of the pod with a loud thump. The metal structure explodes, and a warm of tarantula-like creatures come crawling out.

"Move back!" I scream, and I begin to run in the opposite direction. But I'm not forgetting about that sabotaging bitch. The impact of my bullet tilts her forward and she plummets out the window to her doom. I glance over my shoulder and I see the spiders opening their sharp teethed mouths, biting at the air. But these aren't normal spiders. They're savage, vicious muttations. Fury legs, thousands of purple, beady eyes and razor sharp teeth; they're deadly. Boniqua begins to fire her gun at them, so we all join along, and each time one of them dies, they let out a horrific screech of pain. Luckily, some of them target the lampposts instead of us, but I watch in horror as the hundreds of them rapidly eat down the steel posts.

"Eden! Give me your jawt now!" Kit roars at me. I look at him puzzled, and he screams the same thing again. He snatches it out of my hands and taps the screen a few times, and then tosses it into the pile of spiders. "Take cover!" Within an instant, my jawt creates a humongous explosion and the swarm of spiders are burnt to a crisp, their bodies turned black and shriveled. The blast knocks us back and all six of us fall to the ground. I hear a ringing sound in my ears and I can barely hear Dathan's voice asking me if I'm okay. He pulls out his spear and tosses it straight at a remaining spider, and it sends out bullets killing the last ones off to the side. The woman who activated the pod is now scorched, her burnt skin now peeling and bleeding. I've never really been afraid of spiders, but I'm terrified enough that I walk on the sidewalk around the bodies. That was a close call. All of us could have died because of one woman. Her life would have been filled with fame for all of eternity. But karma got her.

After the craziness, when we decide that the area is clear, we begin to eat some food we brought along and take a bit of a break. I open up a can of vegetable soup and gulp down the thick liquid, even the carrot chunks without chewing them. It kind of surprises me that war food tastes so much better than the food back at the canteen. In fact, I can only imagine what it's like back at U-District 4.. There's no one to rule all the doctors, the nurses, the dinner ladies, and the other staff members. For all I know, they could be blowing up the place.

I look up at the massive screens, staring at Finnick staring at the ground with his eyes closed. The countdown continues to tick away, and I just know that he'll be dead when it's over. We must find him and free him, before it's too late. I can't afford to think that he's going to die. In fact, I can't afford to think that we'll lose this war. Fraux must die. Fraux _will _die. There's no second chance for him. A storm is approaching, and rocks will be substituted for the imminent lashings of rain.

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**And so another chapter has ended...**

**Hello guys and gals! What did you think of this chapter? Let me know in a review!**

**And I want to tell you something:**

**Last night, my grandmother sadly passed away. Because of this, I won't be able to update a chapter for a few days as the funeral will be taking place soon. I know that this isn't super important to you, but I felt that it was right to speak out about it anyway. This was also why some chapters were delaying, because I was with her while her state was declining.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please stay tuned for the next one, whenever it is released. Thank you all so much for your continuous love and support, because it means so much to me! Byeeee :)**


	15. PART III, The Realization: Gone

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Kit explains to us all that there's a self-destruct button on every jawt, causing them to blow up immediately, and that self-destruct button just so happened to save our lives. Those spiders looked deadly. From the way they showed off their sharped fangs to the way they devoured that lamppost on the side walk. We would have been dead in an instant. But this only makes me wonder what else lies hidden in the rest of these streets in the Capitol. Danger is lurking around every corner, and the Capitol have only grown stronger from the second rebellion. And considering Kit told us that the pods were already used in the second rebellion, I can only imagine that they're going to be even more lethal now. I throw my empty can of tomato soup in a nearby trash can, only to be given funny looks by everyone else.

"What?"

"In the middle of a war, you still take your time to dispose of your rubbish?" Kit questions me. I shrug, almost like there's nothing wrong, and he tuts as he turns his back against me. I expected for the air to be filled with laughs, but I can tell that everyone's a bit taken back by Kit's sudden personality change. "Done with your cans?" I ask everyone, collecting the tin containers from each and every one of them. Dropping the load into the trash can, I stare at Kit and he glares back at me. It seems like power and leadership has gotten to his head. We get into single file and proceed to march down the road, with Kit leading the way once again. "To the right." We then turn the corner and down an empty street. It's quite concerning that I haven't spotted too many rebel soldiers, but the sounds of gunfire and explosions off in the distance alerts me that we're not all down yet. I glance up at a screen on the side of one of the buildings and watch as Finnick stays as still as a statue, his eyes flinching repeatedly. The ropes weaving through his body seem to have soaked up even more blood. Now they're even dripping with the thick, red liquid. The countdown is now at fifty three hours. Only fifty three hours left to find him and free him. I stop looking, and I concentrate on the road ahead of me, trying not to let my emotions run while.

"Pull on the trigger," I hear Finnick's deep voice swirling through my head. "Pull on it." I stumble backwards and Eden clutches my arm. "Everything okay?" I nod and we continue on.

A shiver shoots up my spine when I hear echoes of a moving truck. Everybody stops without being order to, and they all ready their guns. The noise gets louder, and suddenly appearing at the end of the street, a huge, black truck spins around the corner and stops. Peacekeepers flood out from a doorway on the side of the truck and charge at us, their guns firing. "Run!" Boniqua shouts out the top of her lungs. "Follow me!"

We chase after her as she immediately heads to the left, straight towards the entrance to the apartment block. She blasts through the glass door with her gun and we leap inside the warm lobby. I press the elevator button, but I know we'll be dead by the time it arrives on this floor, so I order everyone to follow me up the stairs. Keeka stays last and she fires at the Peacekeepers trying to catch up with us. The flight of stairs almost seems endless, so I push through a door that leads us into a floor a couple stories up. I look to the left to see that all that's down that way are a few rooms and a dead end, but I see two elevators when I look to the right. I sprint down the hall and press a button, and the elevator opens up immediately. "Come on!"

One by one, the others follow me in just before the doors shut. I press a button that leads to floor twenty, but by looking at the flashing numbers on the wall, we're stopping at the sixth floor instead. The moment the doors slide open, two Peacekeepers await us and fire bullets, only to drop dead when they reflect right back off of our armor. I gasp, but I hear loud footsteps so I slam on the twentieth floor button again. An arm reaches in just before the doors shut, and the elevator doors start to crush it. The Peacekeeper fires bullets through the doors, and they just barely miss us. The doors slide back open and we're face to face with another Peacekeeper with a huge dent in it's arm. We all fire bullets and blood sprays the peach walls behind. The doors finally shut and we zip upwards to the twentieth floor. We're all revealed to a huge gust of wind, and when my eyes adjust to the light, I see that we're on the roof of the building. I step out of the elevator and I look all out over Panem, watching as ant-sized people sprint all around the streets firing guns and setting off bombs. Off in the distance, I see the massive mansion home to Fraux, surrounded by hedges and trees. But my sightseeing doesn't go on for too long. I hear the bell of the elevator sound, and before I know it, I'm pulled backwards onto the ground. The white mask of a Peacekeeper looms over my face, and when I try to fight back, a gun is put to my forehead.

"Drop your weapons or he dies," the man says, pulling off his helmet and letting his spiked, jet black hair breathe. I roll my eyes to the left and manage to see everyone placing their guns on the ground and putting their hands up into the air. "Nice," the man continues. He pulls out some sort of speaker and says "Bring me a hovercraft" into it. Peacekeepers each stand beside the rest of us, making sure no one tries to escape while the hovercraft arrives. When it does, a ramp drops to the ground and they begin to escort us inside.

"No!" I hear Loffia scream. I turn my head while I'm halfway up the ramp and watch as she runs towards the edge of the building. The Peacekeeper struggles to contain her, and they end up shoving each other. The fight ends up with Loffia pushing the Peacekeeper to the ground, and she jumps up on the ledge of the building. "Loffia! No!" I shout at her, but my Peacekeeper continues to push me up into the hovercraft. The last thing I see before I'm sealed inside the hovercraft is Loffia leaping off the side of the building to her death.

* * *

**Hello everyone!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! Tell me what you thought of it all! Also, I understand that this was a quick one. If you read my previous chapter, you'll understand why it was a quick one...**

**Anyway, I hope you all stay tuned for tomorrow's chapter. I'll certainly try my hardest to get one out there, but if I don't, I hope you understand why. A lot of things have been happening in my life, but I'm loving writing these latest chapters considering how much action is in them! It's so exciting!**

**And also, what did you think of Loffia's death...? Let me know! :D**

**Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you finish reading this entire series. Thank you so much, byeeeee :)**


	16. Emergency

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

My only guess is that she was depressed. Shocked by Hirk's death. Overwhelmed by everything that's going on. But it doesn't matter, she's gone now. A drop that tall would make death unavoidable. Inside the hovercraft, we're shoved into a cramped corner and bars rise up from the floor, containing us like helpless animals. "Let us out now, you brats!" shouts Boniqua. But the man who ordered us to drop our weapons isn't too happy. "Shut the hell up!" He fires a bullet at the bars and the dark room comes to life with the sparks. Boniqua, startled, she jumps back behind me. "Our President will have a great time executing you all for your actions on live television. Farewell." The man disappears through a doorway into the cockpit.

Now we're captured. It's over. I guess I should just call ourselves dead already. They're only going to use us as bait to stop the war, just like Finnick. _Finnick._ There's no way that we'll save him before the timer reaches zero. I take my jawt out of my backpack to check back up on him. Fifty two hours now. We're screwed. The only way we're ever going to free him is if we find an escape route immediately. I'm guessing that they're taking us to Fraux's mansion, and we'll arrive there in less than ten minutes. We are in the Capitol, after all. I need to think of something. Then the red button on the top right corner of screen becomes apparent to me. "Kit, what does this button do?" I ask. His face lightens up. "Oh my god."

He snatches the jawt out of my hands and taps on the button. "Help me push it through!" he orders, shoving it through the bars. I help him push it, and it takes a moment or two, but it eventually squeezes through and lands on the floor on the other side. "_Five, four, three, two, one..." _flashes across the screen, and-

Metal and plastic chunks blow up in my face as the jawt explodes, tearing up the floor beneath. The powerful winds are released into the hovercraft and I look down at the tops of the skyscrapers down below. A few loose bars are dragged outside by the gales and the door to the cockpit blows open. Heads spin inside the room, and we all face the Peacekeepers and the pilot. "Everyone take your jawts out now!" I scream. I swipe Boniqua's out of her grasp and I hit the self-destruct button. I hurl the jawt through a gap blown up in the bars and it explodes, taking out the other half of the floor. "What are you doing?!" Dathan yells, but I assure him that it will be okay. But I'm really not sure. This is our only chance of freedom. Of keeping ourselves alive for a bit longer. Of getting another chance to rescue Finnick. It won't matter if we all die now, because at least we won't be tortured or killed for the whole nation to see live.

I repeat the process with Keeka's jawt, but this time I throw it at the entrance to the cockpit. The explosion isn't as big, but it does take down one of the Peacekeepers. "Land immediately!" the head Peacekeeper with the spiked hair shouts at the nervous pilot. The hovercraft begins to descend, but we're having a bumpy ride. Dathan falls on top of me, and the next thing I know I'm on my back on the ceiling. I look out the hole in the floor, but I don't see the skyscrapers. I see the sky. The hovercraft is crashing and we're upside down. Now, we're back to normal, and I tumble down the wall and onto the floor, Boniqua and Kit squashing me into the bars. I roar in pain, and a shiver shoots up my spine. Looking back out the hole, we're descending quickly. Too quickly. Red, flashing signs appear on the walls in the cockpit and I know that this is not looking good. Keeka squeals in horror as the walls containing us in are shredded apart by a building. She stumbles backwards and I grab onto her just before she falls out of the hovercraft to her doom.

"Don't let them die!" the head Peacekeeper roars. He hits a button on the wall and the bars slowly drop down into the floor. "Look out!"

We're heading directly towards another building, and our only chance of living is to jump over the massive hole in the floor. "Jump!" I order everyone. I go first. I land safely on the other side and the others follow me, all except one: Dathan.

"Dathan, you need to come now!" I scream, and he shudders uncomfortably. "I can't," he says, but I continue to persuade him. "You can!"

He looks to the right, outside the hovercraft, and he gasps. Immediately, he leaps over the massive gap towards us just as the entire left section of the hovercraft is shaved away. He was only a few seconds before death caught up to him. The platform where he was once standing is nowhere to be seen.

The front of the hovercraft tilts upwards and we tumble downwards towards the ledge. I manage to prop myself up against the wall that still stands and I try steady my heavy breathing. But I hear a cry of help. I look down to my right to see Kit dangling from the ledge of the hovercraft. "They're putting out the wheels!" he screams, and that can only mean that we're going to land or crash. We try to pull him up, but the hovercraft jolts and we fall to the floor. Next thing I know, the hovercraft is tilting to the right, and the walls beside me are being destroyed by the ground. I've got no grip, and all I'm doing is laying on the ground, praying that I don't fall off. With one large thud and a cloud of smoke, the hovercraft smashes into the ground and we come to a sudden stop. The thick pillows of ash caused by the friction chokes me. My legs tremble as I stand myself up, and I feel a horrible pain in my stomach. The tingling at the back of my throat is the last thing I feel before my thick, chunky vegetable soup comes back up. Dathan hands me a bottle of water from his backpack, but even he seems dazed after it all. I swirl the water around in my mouth and spit it back out. But the familiar cries of help ring in my ears. But this time Kit's voice seems more agonizing.

I look to where he used to dangle from the ledge, but he's no longer there. I peer over the edge to see his twitching body laying on the skid marked road, the right side of his face looking pushed up above his head. I almost puke again at the sight. From the bloody wound at the bottom of his cheek to his eye being enlarged by the skin on his face that's been shredded, he looks battered. I call out his name, but before I know it, a black van pulls up with two Peacekeepers inside. The head Peacekeeper stumbles out of the cockpit alongside a couple more, and they push us off the ledge and onto the road. The other two Peacekeepers in the van shove us inside, but I scream Kit's name. The Peacekeepers stare at his body, and they eventually pull him into the back of the van alongside us. They shut the doors, we're locked into complete darkness, and the van starts moving a few moments later.. Keeka whimpers as she looks at Kit, so she turns away and cries silently to herself. He lets out a gasp.

"You.. need to keep go- going."

It's horrible to watch, because I know that he's knows that he's not going to live for much longer. He must have caught me wiping the tear from my eye, because he continues. "Eden, and all of you. You- you mu- must remember that hope is stronger than fear."

* * *

**Oh yes, I just quoted the books/movies.**

**Hello to all! How are you doing?! :D  
**

**I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! It's always appreciated and I love hearing what you have to say! This was quite an eventful chapter, and it had a cliffhanger! So Kit has died... no... wait.. He hasn't died yet! ... ;)**

**Anyway, remember when I said that I'll have a story announcement planned for today? I announced that about two weeks ago, but unfortunately, I'm not ready to reveal anything just yet. But don't worry... Soon, my precious children, soon!**

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	17. Anything Could Happen

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

I watch as Eden hovers over Kit's body as his eyes slowly begin to shut. She wipes the streams flowing down her cheeks away and she sniffles. "Are you okay?" I ask her. Her faces glows red and she turns away. I barely hear her words through her croaky, cracking voice. "I'm fine."

"It's okay to cry, you know," Keeka whispers as she wraps her arms around her, and that's when Eden unleashes her emotions. She wails and buries her face into Keeka's armor and whimpers. I'm honestly not that affected by Kit considering his attitude earlier today, but I can't help but feel sorry for Eden. She always got on well with him, and after everything that has already happened to us, she clearly is breaking down.

"Fire!" I hear a voice scream from outside. The van screeches to a stop and sounds of blazing guns fill the air. Soon after the muffled roars of pain the slide door swings open. A tall woman glares at us with her gun pointed. "Rebels?" she asks. I'm the only one to nod, and two rebels step in and bring us outside. "We watched you being taken into the van and I recognized you two immediately," the woman continues, looking towards Eden and I. "I almost forgot to mention; my name's Johanna Mason. Leader of U-District 7 rebels and mentor in the one-hundredth Hunger Games."

I reflect back on the time before the tribute parade, but I only see visions of that horrid beanstalk that caused this all. I clear my mind of all the wicked thoughts. "One is still alive!" a large, bulky man shouts. Johanna pushes past us and fires her gun through the shattered van windows, splashes of blood jumping back out onto her face. Disgusted, she wipes her face clean. "I suppose you wouldn't know who Retta Coppen is, would you?", she asks. Indeed, I do know who she is. The girl who came fourth. The girl who got a machete slammed down onto her stomach. The girl who is now dead to the hands of Fraux. "She was the girl I mentored in the Games. The one you could have saved..."

I sense an unsettled and angry feeling in the air, almost like Johanna is about to snap. I think carefully about what I'm about to say. "Um-"

"I'm only kidding," she interrupts. "She was a lost hope anyway."

"Commander, he's dying," a voice calls out from behind. Johanna pushes past us and we all stare at Kit barely twitching on the ground, Johanna's soldiers kneeling by his side. She pauses and looks at his ragged face covered in blood. "I'm sorry guys, but he's finished." I lightly hear the soft weeps of Eden at my side. She barely approaches the body and blasts of gunfire skid past us. A group of unwelcoming Peacekeepers storm down the street, guns blazing. "We've got to go now!" Johanna orders, and she's suddenly dashing away with her soldiers. There's a moment of confusion between Eden, Boniqua, Keeka and I. "We- we just c-can't leave his body here!" Eden exclaims. "But we must! Eden, he's gone. We need to go now," Keeka says. Eden doesn't budge so I grab her hand tightly and thug her along with me.

We run for long enough that I decide it's safe to look around, and I spot the Peacekeepers stopping at the van. They gloom over Kit. One raises their gun and-

Puffs of smoke from the tip of his gun fill the air and blood sprays everywhere. "What happened?" Eden asks. "Don't! Don't turn around," I order her. We swerve around a corner past a boarded up nightclub and crash into Johanna and her soldiers. "Watch this," she teases. She reaches her hand inside her thick jacket and pulls out a round object. A male soldier hands her a lighter and she ignites the tip. It's tossed out at the crossroad just as the Peacekeepers arrive and thick smoke covers us.

"Run!"

If only I could see where I'm running to, though. I hear plenty of coughs, yet I can't see anything. I even end up smashing into a lamppost. I eventually find Boniqua and grab onto her. We make it far enough to an area not affected by the smoke and sprint down a long alleyway that connects to another street. We swarm out onto the pavement and sit down against a wall to rest.

"Smoke bomb," Johanna pants. "You got any?" I shake my head.

I greet with Johanna's two soldiers, the woman being Cyleyn and the man being Ross. I swipe out my jawt and take a look at the map of the Capitol. Fraux's mansion blinks with a red light a long distance from where we are. I check up on Finnick and the timer now reads fifty. hours left. We've only got around two days to rescue him, and that's not a long time. Johanna assures me that we'll make it but I honestly am starting to doubt it. I'm thinking so stupidly. They could kill him any moment now. Even if we do make it to the mansion in time, they'll capture us and execute Finnick immediately. We need to get in secretly, but I don't know how that's going to happen. I just need time to think.

Ross finds a bakery a couple of meters down the path and we shoot our way through the windows. All Capitol citizens must be forbidden to exit their homes considering the streets and shops are empty, all but Peacekeepers and rebels. The aroma of fresh bread and iced cakes shoots up my nostrils. Leaping over the counter and into kitchen, trays of pastries and baked goods lay, just waiting to be served. Then the staff must have been ordered back home the second they were about to be put out on the counter. We dig into the food and it immediately tastes better than everything I've had over the past few weeks. Boniqua disgustingly rinses out her vegetable soup can in the sink and squashes three viennese whirls inside to store for later. We stay for the entire evening with everyone promising no breaks tomorrow. After all, we have a long way to go. All I can think about is the current state of the rebels. Are we pushing on? Are most of us dead? Are we losing this war? There's too many questions. Too many questions that are frightening. The sky is pitch dark so we decide to try and get some sleep. We dig deeper through the kitchen and find a large storage room filled with boxes of ingredients. We sleep in here considering it's the safest room. I decide to stay awake and go on alert to make sure nobody's going to attack us.

Every second is torture. Peeking out through the ajar door and out through the smashed window. I'm just waiting for enemies to swarm in, pelting us with bullets to our death. Or even worse, for them to capture us again, this time successfully. I can't imagine it without feeling terrified. Eden, dead. Boniqua, dead. Keeka, dead. Finnick, dead. Everyone, dead. That's all the Capitol want; everyone dead. The Hunger Games just goes to prove that. But now we want a change, and we need to get a change. We're so close to a change, but I can't help but feeling that with change comes sacrifice. This war is not going to end perfectly.

* * *

**Guess who's back, back again?!**

**Hello to all! I hope by no recent updates I haven't turned any of you off this story. But I'm back! Yes, expect for this story to be finally finished soon. And with that last paragraph, I hope that you're prepared, because anything could happen...**

**If you liked this chapter, please leave a review! It always encourages me because I know I'm not just writing this story for no apparent reason :)**

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**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all read the next one! Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee!**


	18. Followed

_"Yovar, what are the latest updates?" a stressed voice calls from the back of the office. "Um- your sire..." the nervous assistant croaks. "All reports filed in the last twenty-four hours from the squads state that the rebel troops are closing in. Commander Pill demands that we-"_

_"That we turn to Plan 102."_

_The assistant hollers, thinking of what to say to please the President. "But Commander Pill-"_

_"I do not want to hear any of it!" Fraux roars, spinning around in his chair. He slams his hands down onto his paper-filled desk, staring down his weak prey. "Plan 102 has never been used in any of the other rebellions during the past one-hundred years. Now is the time. Power up the specific pods and we'll wait for them lunatics to activate them!"_

_"Oh- okay.."_

_Fraux waves his hand in the air. "You see this?" he asks, rising from his chair and stepping out onto the balcony. "This is all mine." Yovar steps outside into the cool, night air with the President himself, and they both stare out across the land. Smoke and fire lap around rooftops in the distance, sounds of guns rapid-firing to be heard faintly. _

_"We cannot let this slip from my grasp. Phase one of Plan 102 will commence at sun rise. Get Commander Pill to come up here immediately so I can give him his instructions. Is that clear?"_

_"As clear as the clear victory which will be on our side," Yovar boasts._

_"Good. You may leave."_

* * *

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

"Eden.." I hear a voice whisper into my ear. "Eden, it's your turn.."

My eyes flash open to see Dathan hovering over me. "I feel like I've only been sleeping for five minutes," I moan, but the clock on his jawt begs to differ. Three hours. "Dathan.." I say.

"Yes?"

"I'm scared." His jaw drops.

I bet he never expected those two words to ever come from my mouth, and I shouldn't really either. Going into the Games, I was as tough as a rock. I always knew I had one job to do, and that was to win. But that's all changed now. I may be alive and have won, but I feel dead inside. Everything is changing for the better, but for me everything seems to be changing for the worst. I haven't had any contact with my mother and my sister for a long time now. For all I know, they could be dead. And even if we win this war, where do I move on to? What about Dathan? He's got no one left to be cared by. His parents, his friends... All dead.

"Why are you scared?" he asks.

"It's nothing. It's just... What if we don't come out alive?"

He smiles. "Don't worry, we will," he assures me. "You must remember that we're not the only ones fighting. We're supported. We're going to win and everything will be back together." But the tremble in his voice tells me that he's uncertain. I just nod without questioning him further. The thing is, I'm not scared about facing death. I'm scared about Dathan facing death.

He curls up into a ball on the ground and gently shuts his eyes. The only thing keeping me awake is the vent above my head blasting out icy, cold air. There's nothing much more to do than freak myself out by thinking of terrible things that may happen. What feels like hours go by when I eye Dathan's jawt on the ground. I lean over him and snatch it up. Finnick's timer only has forty four hours remaining. I watch as he lies on the ground, almost looking like a dead body. The ropes that weave through his limbs getting wetter from the thick blood that they soaked up. But I know he's not dead, because his eyelids flash open. Slowly, he tucks his legs up against his chest and swerves his arms under his feet. His hands shackled with the handcuffs, he slowly attempts to peel off the duct tape sealing his mouth shut. He stares around in the darkness cautiously, looking nervous at things I can't see. There must be people. Security. Awaiting for him to make a move and execute him. If my guesses are right, they must not be watching him, because he fully takes the duct tape off and screams out in horror.

"He's here! He's still here! They have him! He's here!"

His voice booms out from the jawt and echoes from the speakers atop the roofs in the street.

"He's still here! Help!" Within an instant, the screen fades black.

"Who is trying to wake me up?!" Boniqua screeches. I hear moans and groans, and I begin to panic. "Finnick just spoke! He got the tape off his mouth and spoke!" I say.

"What did he say?" Johanna asks, rubbing her eyes. "He said that someone is "still here"," I quote. "What does that mean?" Keeka asks. I shrug. Whatever it means, it's not good. Who was Finnick talking about? Now I've got another thing to worry about. I creep out through the front of the bakery and peer out through the broken window. All screens on the buildings show nothing but darkness. Fraux is hiding something, and Finnick barely spilled the secret.

Boniqua offers to stay on alert while I take a rest, but the sound of her munching on a handful of fresh cookies from the kitchen is keeping me awake. All I do is stare up at the lone security camera and look through it's deep lens. It takes me back to a couple of weeks earlier. Back to the Games. Being watched every moment. Every movement that I took was shown to the entire nation. And my actions caused all of this.. And-

The camera twitches ever so slightly and rotates to the left, staring straight down at me. Immediately, my heart races. I can almost see the pair of eyes watching me straight through the lens. I think of what to do, not wanting to scare anyone. But we need to get out of here. That's why the alarm never went off when we broke in here.

I slowly and gently tap Johanna on the forehead. Her eyes spring open and she glares at me. "What?" she whispers. I point up towards the camera and she stares in horror. "It moved," I say.

"Everybody go now!" she screams.

I hear a nasty screech echo throughout the rooms and I see shutters start to lower down out the front of the shop. "Move, move, move!" I yell. I thug on Dathan's hand as he weakly moves along, asking "What's happening?"

We slide through the kitchen and out into the front of the store. We slip around the desk and leap out through the smashed window, out onto the desk. I try to push the shutters up, but they keep lowering down. Ross, Johanna, and Keeka follow out soon after but Boniqua and Cyleyn continue to run. "Come on!" we all shout, but I have a terrible feeling in my stomach. We all barely manage to keep the shutters up just as Boniqua crawls underneath, and when I look through the gap, I see something awful.

The shutters slam down onto the ground just before we pull back our hands, and I know that Cyleyn is doomed. The roof was slowly coming down. We try to pull the shutters back up but they're completely sealed. All we do is wait to eventually hear the crushing sound as she screams.

"Shit!" Johanna curses. "We cannot keep losing soldiers like this. We must move on now before Capitol squads are sent out here."

We quickly pace down the street following the map on Dathan's jawt. We pass around the corner and we spot a group of rebels firing guns at a horde of Peacekeepers. "They're being outnumbered. We must help them!" Boniqua exclaims. Within an instant she's halfway down the road, guns blazing. I take out my bow and aim carefully, trying not to shoot any of the rebels. I catch a glimpse of a white uniform and I release my grip on the arrow. A body falls amongst the action and I know I've landed a hit. Dathan throws his spear and it impales a Peacekeeper directly through the heart, and it fires bullets taking down a few more, but it also kills two rebels. One rebel from the group spins around and stares at us.

"Commander Mason," he huffs.

"Commander Xanva," Johanna answers. "Nice meeting you again. Where are you squad heading to?"

"We've been ordered to take the Tribute Parade stadium and the Tribute Center. And you?" he asks.

"Fraux's mansion," I butt in. "According to the map of the Capitol, we can both take the same route and end up at both our destinations."

Xanva falls silent for a moment. "Mason, I'd happily be able to group up with our squad. But let's deal with this first..."

Xanva pulls a small spherical object from inside his jacket and twists the tip off the top of it. He tosses it in amongst the group of Peacekeepers, and a huge explosion soon follows. Boniqua falls on the ground and smoke soon covers her completely. The dust slowly settles and I see a shiny, metal object off behind the Peacekeepers' bodies. It doesn't take long for me to understand what it is when I feel a rumble underneath my feet. A pod. And the bomb just set it off.

Cracks rip through the tarmac and I stumble backwards. I cry for Dathan and Boniqua, and the looks on their faces make me shiver. They run towards us and two big slabs of the street begin to rise upwards. The steady ground I'm standing on begins to crumble and I begin to fall downwards on a slope.

_"Shhhhhhh..."_

A horrible, screeching sound pierces my eardrums and I feel like crying. Then I see what is making the sound. In the pit in which I am sliding down into is a bundle of slithering, twisting snakes. Their bodies curl and bend as they wriggle in the air, slowly crawling towards me. But it's almost like they're human. There's something off about them.

"_Here..."_

Dathan and Boniqua fall down further into the pit, closer to the vicious snakes. They both yell for help, but there's not a lot I can do. One creeps towards Dathan, eerily moving, wriggling it's pitchforked tongue in the air. It slowly bears it's mouth open, showing off its' sharp fangs and lunges forward for the kill. My arrow blasts through the air and jams directly into it's eye.

A horrible, raspy roar of pain comes from it's mouth, and it's nothing like I've heard before. It's scaly, green skin peels and tears, leaving nothing but bloody flesh on the ground impaled with a lone arrow.

_"Come..."_

More begin to approach us just as I feel another vibration. Rubble pours down onto me and I'm pushed down further alongside Boniqua. I'm barely able to spin my head and I watch as more of the street above me crumbles, sending the others down into the position where I just was. When I turn my head back around, it seems like there's even more of the mutts. Almost like they spawned out of thin air. In fact, there's not just four or five like there used to be. It seems like there's at least twenty.

I reach for another arrow and pull back on the string of my bow fiercely. Aiming at the group of the snakes, they hiss in anger.

_"Don't..."_

Sweat builds on my forehead. I wait for one move from them, just waiting for an attack. Even for a flinch in movement. One twitch and I strike, but they seem to be frozen like statues. Even with their bodies twisted in the air, they remain perfectly still. It's almost creepy. Abnormal. Impossible.

Then there's another rumble.

I look up and I see the street folding back down, sealing us all inside. Darkness fills the air and it's almost impossible to see.

_"Now..."_

* * *

**Such a cliffhanger!**

**Well hello everyone! Long time no see!  
****I really can't believe that it's taken so long, but I PROMISE that I will push on and get some more chapters out. After all, there's not a lot left.. This story is coming to a close soon :(****  
**

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	19. Death is Inevitable

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Spear in hand, gun cast over my shoulder, I lay here shaking nervously.

_"Come..."_

I hear the creatures wrattling in the darkness, and I slowly begin to crawl back up the long slope.

"Eden? Bonqiua?" I call out. "I'm here!" Boniqua shouts at the top of her lungs, and within an instant, I hear a ferocious roar, nothing liked I've heard before. Then I hear Boniqua's scream of terror. Guns start firing and I hear agonizing screams. Squelching sounds of something that must be blood and guts. I hear a snake bare it's fangs, hissing at the poor girl.

"Stay back, bitch!" I hear her yell. Then another fire of the gun. The snake creatures squeal, almost like being burned alive in a pit of boiling magma. I just can't take it anymore.

"Eden!" I scream. "Dathan!" she yells back. I crawl up the mixture of rocks and dirt, scrambling in the dark to find her. I faintly see a pair of eyes, and my heart drops.

"Eden?"

Glowing green with a dark black slit as a pupil, the eyes slowly approach me. Instantly, I know it's not Eden.

_"Dathan..."_ the raspy voice whispers eerily. This is not possible. They know _my name. _The snakes. This is not natural. This is impossible. I reach for my gun slung around my shoulder by a strap and I place one finger on the trigger.

_"Peace..."_

The eyes come close enough and I begin to see the cracked, scaly skin of the venomous creature. A forked tongue slithers in the air and into my face, and I pull the trigger of my gun.

"_DON'T!"_

Death itself has nothing on these snakes. It's bizarre to me as to how the Capitol must have designed these. It's just not possible. They know my name, and they even speak english. What scares me most is how the snake said that last word, though. It roared it so loud, and so eerily that it sounded so human.

Cries of terror fill the air and a drop of blood splashes onto my cheek. That's when I hear Eden yell.

"They're all attacking!"

And she's right. I hear countless amounts of hisses. I hear wrattling of their tails. I can already feel their presence. Then there's the vicious screams.

I immediately see eyes jump at my through the air, then razor sharp teeth. They blades dig into my armoured sleeve and barely pierce at my skin. I grab the snake with my bare hand and pull the slimey creature as hard as I can. But it's not budging. It hisses relentlessly, and I feel it breaking through my armour. This cannot be happening. This is not even possible. Their teeth are indestructible!

I struggle to hold up my gun with one hand and I aim it around helplessly in the darkness. I can't see anything, but I manage to get a good idea as to where it is, and I shoot. I feel the grip on my arm loosen and I'm left touching meaty chunks of raw flesh. Then I feel something touch my shoulder.

"Dathan?"

I'm relieved. I grab onto Eden hardly. "We need to get out of here now!"

Hand in hand, we charge up the rubble hill trying to get away from the creatures. The hissing increases, and I hear more gunfire than ever now. Commander Xanva is screaming as hard as he can, but I don't hear Keeka at all. I'm worried. She's probably dead by now.

The roof above is lowers and I know that we're as far as we can get, so we get on the ground and begin crawling upwards. Piles of rubble block our way so we scoup the wreckage away. Tiny lazers of light shoot inside the pit from outside and I know we're almost free. The darkness is being killed, and I can start to see the snakes now. We make a big enough whole to escape and light pours in. I see Boniqua and Keeka running away from a whore of deadly snakes chasing them, Xanva, Johanna and Ross just slightly ahead. But Xanva's squad of three are nowhere to be seen. I scan the area, but I can't see them. Only blood and flesh is everywhere... Oh, wait.

Eden and I crawl outside into the open city, but there's smoke everywhere. Hovercrafts fill the air and I know that something's up. We pull Xanva, Johanna and Ross out of the pit and we scream at Boniqua and Keeka.

There almost here, but the snakes are approaching quickly. If they don't hurry, they'll be slaughtered in second. Those snakes are not to be messed with.

"Come on!" I yell at them both.

They crawl on the ground and leap out from the hole and we stand them up. The snakes are just about at the exit so we begin to run away. Ear-breaking sirens are set off around the streets and more hovercrafts fly in the sky. Then a gap opens up on the bottom of one of them, dropping out a large object. It lands on the top of one of the buildings and-

"Run!"

Bricks pour down to my left with an explosion of smoke and fire. We sprint as fast as we can, rubble flying all around us. I look up and another bomb is being dropped, this time to my right.

"Hurry!" I scream.

The entire building tilts to it's side and rains down onto us. I manage to miss a flying brick and escape unharmed. They know we're here, and they know we're escaping. The hovercrafts shoot off into the sky and off into the distance, never to be seen again.

We stop and look around, staring at the damage caused. You see, if they ever want to kill us, they'll have to take down some of their own too.

A screen propped up on one of the buildings comes to life, revealing a series of messages along with a female voice reading them out.

_"To the citizens of the Capitol. Everyone is required to remain inside their homes for the next twenty-four hours, starting from now. We hope you communicate with us during these tough times, but we will remain strong and get through it. Thank you."_

"What are they planning?" Keeka asks. I shrug. "Probably just warning to-"

Below my feet, I feel a vibration. But not like the one in the snake pit. This one seem dangerous. Life-threating. I look around at the others and their faces tell me nothing. They're scared. Confused. Just like me.

"We need to go now," I urge. And no one answers back. We pace down the street as quick as we can, eyeing out every corner to see what's happening. But nothing's happening... yet.

The rumbling increases and the entire road begins to wobble. I fall onto my back and I can't stand back up. Building's begin to shake, and then I see something horrifying. On both pathways on either side of the road, the slabs begin to rise into the air. Huge blocks slowly grow, sealing us all onto the road and away from the shops. And the walls don't stop growing. They rise so high that they've reached the rooftops of the buildings, and they look unbreakable. But it's not just on this street. At the corner of the road, each of the three different directions have the walls too. Right up to the roofs, there's nothing but grey bricks.

We sprint as fast as we can down the next street, and once again at the crossroad, there's nothing but towering walls. The Capitol have sealed us inside, and have sealed everyone in their homes in behind the walls.

The silence among us is unbearable, so I'm the first to speak up.

"What now?" I ask. No one answers, not even Eden who would usually reply. After a moment of silence, Johanna speaks up."We're might aswell consider ourselves dead already. We're defeated," she says.

She's right. We _are _defeated. There's nothing to do. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to escape. They've captured us, like rats in a box. If all the streets look like this, then it's like we're in a maze.

I hear gunfire in the air, and black dots roam in the sky. But they're not just black dots. One by one, as the come closer to us, I see that they're hovercrafts, fit with the Capitol seal on the side. The hover just over the top of the walls, scanning us all down. This is it. We're finished. They've captured us. We've lost.

Then the bombs drop.

* * *

**You're probably wondering what the hell just happened. xD**

**Well hello everybody! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and it was a crazy one! What's with the walls? Picture it like the maze in The Maze Runner. Walls like THAT. But don't worry, all shall be explained soon.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you didn't, please leave a review :D**

**Don't forget to read the next chapter, as more questions will be answered! This story is going to end soon, and it's going to be a sad, sad SAD day. But I won't make a speech here. I'll leave that for the last chapter ;)**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee :)**


	20. Escaping

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

Screams of pain. Cries of terror. Whails of agony. Luckily none of it is from our group. But it is off in the distance as the bombs drop. Countless amounts of hovercrafts whirl through the air while one dangles above us, entirely locked on to killing us. It's shadow casts along the street, chasing us while dropping a row of bombs in our direction. "Go, go, go!" I scream.

Charging away as fast I can, I hear the explosions behind me. One after another, each one bangs in my ears, rocking the surface beneath me. I barely tilt my head and look back behind me to see massive crators in the ground, even some of the road underneath the walls being torn up. And that's what confuses me. Bombs this big are not able to dig even a dent into the walls? Apparently not. The Capitol must have been creating these for years, keeping them as a major back up plan. Nothing like these could be built within months. These things are indestructable.

The other catch up with me, but so is the hovercraft. A black shadow covers us as the hovercraft shoots on ahead past us. Then there's another row of bombs. We immediately pause, automatically turning back and running in the opposite direction, but now we're trapped. The second set of bombs explode and we crash to the ground. Crators to our left. Crators to our right. All that remains is the untouched chunk of the road that we're standing on. To stay, or to jump down into the gigantic holes to trap ourselves even more?

We must think fast, become more hovercrafts approach in the sky. The one bombing us begins to turn back around just as another one comes into view. But this one is at full speed ahead, moving like an unstoppable train. Then the large circular hole atop the hovercraft becomes apparent to me. A huge, red missile shoots straight out of it, leaving behind a trail of smoke in it's path. Crashing into the side of the first hovercraft, it explodes upon impact. Chunks of metal and steel fly around us and the remaining part of the hovercraft begins to tower down towards us.

Without needing to say anything, everyone follows me as I leap into the crator for safety. My feet barely touch the ground as the hovercraft crashes against the one platform we were once standing on. The rubble pours down over us as I shield my face. But there's no time to be relieved. I look up at the second hovercraft and it slowly begins to lower down onto the end of the road above us. But there's something different with this one.. The color is a bit more darker, more of a black shade than grey. The design itself seems different.

A ramp falls down and a black bearded man wearing heavy looking black armor steps down, a gun slung over his shoulder by a belt. He looks down at us panting. "Get in here if you want your lives saved immediately!" He's not any sort of Capitol soldier. He's a rebel soldier. Fresh from one of the U-Districts, I can tell.

We start to scramble up the bumpy wall, helping to lift one another up onto the road. The man hurrily ushers us up the ramp, greeting us all. "My name is Commander Ultreya of U-District 8's hovercraft squad. But we have no time to waste. We need to drop you off past these walls."

He pulls a lever on the wall and the ramp slowly rises back up.

"What do you mean _past _these walls?" Xanva asks.

"Well you didn't really think that the Capitol had these walls everywhere, did you? This city is huge! They couldn't possibly have the entire city surrounded in them!"

I guess he's right. They couldn't, really. But that means that the rebellion isn't over just yet. They haven't got us all trapped. There won't be a hovercraft to save every single squad, and some of us are probably blown to pieces by the bombs already, but at least some of us will make it out alive. Just now, the floor rumbles and I think we're beginning to take off.

"Anyway, the Capitol misjudged their own plans. Capturing all the rebels bang on in the middle of the city works well on paper, but not in real life. You see, we've already got every spot in this city claimed. This is _our _city."

"But what about-" Johanna begins before she's interrupted.

"No, we don't have the mansion captured. In fact, the last part of the city we need to take over is the end tail of the city. So the Tribute Avenue, Fraux's mansion and a few other spots. Now take a seat. It will take a few minutes."

We sit back on the benches lined up against the wall in silence. "I know something to show you all... These are one-way windows by the way, so don't worry," Ultreya says.

He taps a button on some sort of control panel beside the door to the cockpit and screeching fills the air. Shutters behind us and on the wall in front of us begin to pull up and I lay my eyes on a magnificent view. I look out above the city at the seemingly endless amount of walls that go off into the distance. Nearly the entire city is protected with them. The entire city that we've been marching through. The entire city that we lost our friends with in. Hirk. Loffia. Kit. Cyleyn. Xanva's squad to the snakes. Even Fry who didn't even make it to the Capitol. The one person who got killed during the attack at the trainstation in District 4. They're all gone. All at the hands of Fraux.

Who even knows who could possibly be next? Hopefully none of us. Hopefull we make it safely. But we all know that that's not going to happen. We're coming to the end of this war, and we're so close to freedom. We can't possibly give up now, no matter what happens. No matter what risks and consequences face us. We must continue onwards.

Even my own brother and sister dead at his hands. Even the whole of District 4 blown to pieces at his hands. Even Finnick barely clinging for life at his hands. Finnick!

Dathan pulls out his jawt for me and we all huddle around him nervously. Finnick's timer is at five hours...

Five hours.

No. Something has changed. Something wrong has happened. There's only five hours remaining. In no more than one hour ago it was at forty four!

"They have reduced the timer! We're never going to make it to his mansion on time!" I shout.

"Commander Ultreya, surely you can drop us off near the mansion, right?" Ross asks. But Ultreya shakes his head. "Unfortunately, I can not. Our pilot believes that the mansion would be smothered with Peacekeepers and hovercrafts. It is way too risky."

"Hey!" Dathan yells. "Stop worrying! We will make it in time!"

"But-" I say.

"No Eden! We will! There's no need to worry. Worrying will only stress us. We need to have hope."

I try to get a word in, but he won't let me speak.

"Eden, remember what Kit said to you! Hope is stronger than fear! If we keep worrying, we'll be defeated. We _will _rescue Finnick in time!"

I don't think I've heard Dathan like this before. He seems so desperate to make me feel hopeful. I know he's just trying to make us feel better, but I just can't see us getting to Finnick on time.. If they reduced the time from forty four hours to just five hours, they'll simply kill him whenever they want. They're baiting us. I can tell. I can almost see Fraux's snake-like face laughing at me.. The snakes in the pit.

The way the snakes were slowly baiting us inwards to our deaths. It's just what Fraux is doing.

"_Come now, Eden..."_

I understand it all now. Those snakes tried to make us feel comfortable and slowly lured us in, and now the king of the snakes himself is trying to lure us with Finnick. It's a ploy.. It's a trap.. But one step closer to Finnick means one step forward to Fraux, meaning one step closer to his death.

Out the window, the Capitol hovercrafts continue to drop bombs down into the streets surrounded by the walls. Fortunately they're locked onto killing the other rebels. Otherwise we would have been noticed immediately.

Then I see that we're approaching the end of the walls. The end of the Capitol. The end of it all.

That's when I see something relieving. More hovercrafts pour in from every spot around us, but they're not here to sneak by or play peacefully. They're here for war. Fit with the canons just like our hovercraft, they send missiles at the Capitol hovercrafts. A full on fight begins in the sky around us, but none of the Capitol hovercrafts seem to have canons. Only bombs which aren't useful right now.

I watch as explosions light up the sky, metal and smoke spreading everywhere. Hovercraft after hovercraft, they all plummet downwards into the endless maze of the walls. We fly over the last wall and we're into the open end of the Capitol. That's when I see the trucks and groups of Peacekeepers.

"It's time to kill or be killed," Ultreya says. "It's time to do what they did to you." He then scurries over to the control panel and taps various different buttons. I feel a rumble running through the floor and I know what he's doing. Dropping our very own bombs.

I glare out the window and watch as the other rebel hovercrafts do the same. Roofs of buildings explode, sending bricks and rubble down onto Peacekeepers below. But some of them aren't Peacekeepers. Oh no, not at all. I see colored costumes and pink hair. Capitol citizens, all stupid enough to not be in their homes. Probably thinking that all the rebels were caught and killed in the walls and decided to go out for a nice walk. But that's only typical of the brainless fools.

I see a large truck with a Peacekeeper sitting on top with some sort of machine. He slowly tilts it side to side, and suddenly an object of some sort shoots right out of it. The moment it blows up the hovercraft to our left, I know that it's not to be messed with. A canon, except this one is launching bombs.

"This is your pilot speaking. Everyone must sit down and strap themselves in immediately. We are quickly descending."

The voice blares loud enough through the walls that we follow his orders immediately. We all put on our belts and sit back nervously. Me and Dathan latch onto each other as the hovercraft shoots downwards and we continuously jump a few centimeters off of our seats. Out the window, all I can see is the sky now. Now the roof of a building and now-

"Hang on tight!" Ultreya shrieks.

One large bump and I'm tossed one foot off of my seat, the belt keeping me safe. I know we're on the ground now and I hear the wheels of the hovercraft rolling on the tarmac. We're on the street.

Out the window, I can barely see the scalps of Peacekeepers and Capitol citizens as we begin to slow down.

"Leave now! Leave now!" Ultreya roars at us.

The ramp falls down and a cold gust of wind blows in. We all immediately take off our belts and rush down the ramp. We fire bullets at the Peacekeepers, even accidently taking down a few of the citizens as they run wild, screaming franatically. I can't get a good aim with my heavy gun so I grab and unfold my bow from the pocket on my quiver. My arrows shoot straight through the soft, white fabric of the Peacekeepers' gear with small dots of blood seeping through the material around the tips of the arrows.

The ramp closes up and our hovercraft rises into the sky. One last missile from the canon and the entire group of Peacekeepers cream and spread against the slabs outside a furniture store.

Other rebel hovercrafts lower down until they vanish behind buildings while one lands on our street. A group with _'U-D6' _labelled on their suits flee out from their hovercraft and look over at us. They press three fingers against their lips and then raise their fingers into the air. The salute. They must recognize me and Dathan.

They jog down the alleyway just behind us and pass into a new street on the other side. That way both of us squads can take over a street seperately and get the job done quicker.

The Capitol citizens' screams of terror can still be heard, but only one continues to roam this street. Her yellow polka-dot dress completely soaked with blood and a gaping wound on her calf, she pants in agony on the ground.

"Pl-please d-don't hurt me..."

She desperately tries to crawl backwards. I can tell she's in pain, and I don't think any of us want to kill her, so I begin to speak to her.

"We won't hurt you if you don't call for-"

"Help! There's rebels here! The rebels are here! The rebels are-"

Johanna's bullet blasts through her forehead and she tilts her head back onto the ground.

"I'm sorry," Johanna says in a tone totally unapologetic. "She was crying for help. She was going to expose us to Peacekeepers."

The more time I spend with Johanna on this journey, the more I realize that she will do whatever it takes to make things right, even if it comes to taking someone's life. She's not to be messed with. I'm pretty sure that even if the only way for her to reload her gun was for me to be dead, she'd kill me within seconds. Luckily we have had no abnormal traps or pods that make us go through tough situations like that.

We begin to quickly pace down the street with Boniqua and Keeka leading ahead, making sure no Peacekeepers come our way while I call out directions from Dathan's jawt.

"To the right.."

"Forward.."

"To the left.."

"Stop!" Boniqua screams. "Look!"

I look up from the screen and face the street filled with pods. The three metal structures sit there menacingly. Their big sizes end up filling around a quarter of the street in all, only leaving space in between each one. But this isn't like any other street we've passed down before. This street is very narrow, almost like it was built this was purposely to leave no options for us.

I look at the map on the jawt and there appears to be no other route to take that will get us to Fraux's mansion quickly. Others will take hours, and that will not do. Then the spear on Dathan's back glistens in the corner of my eye, the sun beaming off of the steel.

"Dathan, your spear!" I exclaim. "If you try to throw it to the end of the street, the bullets will shoot out from it and activate the pods. Remember?"

"Oh yes!" he pipes, pulling it out of it's sleeve. "This will work easily."

He draws back, starts to walk forward slowly, speeds up and flings it. The rush of the air against the spear activates the bullets, shooting and activating the first pod. The ground rumbles and a net shoots out on a patch of the ground. But it's not just an ordinary net. It's filled with sharply pointed blades on every little spot. Luckily it has no one to capture.

The bullets from the spear activate the second one. Sharp knives shoot out from tiny holes in the two buildings opposite it. Once again, good thing we're not close to be hit.

Then the bullets hit the last one. I wait for something to happen, but everything remains calm. I scan the buildings, searching for any sort of hole that could possibly contain something dangerous. But there's nothing.

Dathan's spear lands with a bang at the end of the street. He slowly starts approaching and I pull him back. "Are you crazy? Walk past that pod and anything could kill you! It didn't even activate!" I squeal. His eyes broaden, looking in terror over my shoulder. Only three words come from his mouth that make me spin in confusion.

"It did now."

* * *

**#ExtraLongChapter**

**#CrazyCliffhanger**

**Well hello everyone! Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger!**

**Let me start by saying I am very sorry about the delay. I am currently writing a story for a contest, so bare with me. I will work harder and get more chapters out. Proof of this is the fact that this chapter (without the Author's Note) has 2,883 words! Yipeee!**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! I always love to hear what you think of this story.**

**And by the way, this story is going to end soon :'(**

**But that just means that these last chapters are going to be extra special and amazing! :')**

**Also, if you have time, vote in the poll on my profile! I would love to hear which story of mine is your favorite :D I hope you all read the next chapter!**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	21. Coming To A Close

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

I just can't take it anymore. At this moment in time, I want the ground to open up and swallow me. I've gone through too much. Back in U-District 4 with Crimette. Tackling all the streets of the Capitol. And now this.

It begins with something shiny off down the street. Then the rumble shoots through the tarmac under my feet. Then I can barely see what's happening. Daggers. Blades. Sharp razors. Some sort of death trap gobbling up the street to get to us. Not again. I just want this all to be over. And I can end it all within seconds, so that's what I decide to do.

I sprint away from the group towards the blades and I see the trap in full view. Blocking up the whole street, they shoot up through the ground and savage everything in their way. Rapidly approaching me, I don't stop running. This thing is dangerous, whatever it is. This can't be stopped. Not even if we shot bullets at it. Oh, no. This is unstoppable, and I know it won't come to a halt until we're all torn to pieces.

"Dathan!"

I don't know who's voice it is, but I recognize that it is feminine.

"Stop!"

But I don't stop. This death machine is only meters away and I won't stop until it catches me. That way I won't have to deal with any of this trouble. I'll end it all the way Loffia did. One leap from the edge of a building, and I will just need one leap from the ground into the blades.

Suddenly, I feel something clutch around my wrist, then I'm suddenly being pulled back. I look back to see Eden and Johanna trying to drag me backwards while the others begin to catch up. I scratch at their hands and try to get them to free me, but they won't.

"No!" I yell. "Let me go now! It's going to either be just me or all of us, and we can't have all of us dead!"

Boniqua and Xanva latch onto my other arm while Keeka and Ross push my from behind.

"No Dathan," begins Eden, "it's going to be all of us dead or none of us dead."

I tilt my head back and I'm happy to see the blades clawing their way towards us even quicker, but now it's going full-speed ahead. Pretty soon, we're _all _going to be dead. And I can't let that happen. I need the others to stay alive. For once, I begin to push forward and I stop struggling against their grasp on me.

The blades behind us start eating at the tarmac, rubble scattering everywhere. There's barely any time left. Only feet away, I can feel the chunks of rubble hitting the back of my legs. "Hurry!" I squeal. They all finally let go of me and we're all on our own now. Eden speeds on ahead while me, Ross and Keeka are closest to the machinery.

I press my hands against Keeka's backpack and give her a hard push. She boosts on ahead and now paces along beside Johanna. Then I notice something off. A loud, ear-wrenching creak fills the air and I watch as the two buildings up ahead at the beginning of the intersection begin to push outwards. Slowly moving out onto the road, I know exactly what's happening. And I know exactly what's going to happen if we don't get to the two buildings on time.

"Come on!" Eden shouts up the top. "If we don't make it they're going to shut us in!"

And she's right. I know I'm destined to get what I once wanted when I hear the blades slicing just behind me. I barely look behind and I watch as they tap at my feet. A large rumble in the ground makes me wobble, and I know I'm directly on top of new sets of blades about to activate. I leap forward just as the ground beneath my feet opens up with sharp daggers clawing at the air.

The buildings up ahead are near to closing shut just as Eden passes through them and onto the safe street on the other side. All three of the pods have been mauled into nothing as I look back behind me. Johanna, Boniqua, Xanva and Keeka all make it through and I'm nearly there. I'm barely able to snatch my spear from the ground as the blades continue to chop away behind me.

"Come on!" they shout, their voices trembling. The walls are tightly and I just manage to get through. But I'm not satisfied. Now I've escaped unharmed. I must continue now.

"Where's Ross?" Keeka asks.

It's almost like everyone's face turned as pale as a ghost the moment Keeka asked that. I look back through the closing buildings and manage to see him walking on ground that is breaking under his feet. Without thinking, I automatically sprint back through the buildings that are seconds moments from shutting. Everyone behind me scream in terror, calling my name angrily. I slide through on my side and I'm back in the street with the blades. This can be my excuse. That I was 'just going to save Ross.'

In fact, I don't even look at him. I run towards the daggers that sprint towards us, and just as I'm about to leap to my doom, Ross pushes me back. I'm like a barrier now, not allowing him to pass me. He continues to shove me as the daggers shave away the back of his boots and I'm pushed back in between the walls. He tries to pass me, but he's unable to. Now he has his hands on my face, pushing me back desperately.

I fall backwards onto the safe street and I watch as Ross tries to squeeze through the gap in the buildings, but it's to tight now. The blades catch up to him and within seconds he's torn down to a stump.

He's like a strawberry in a juice blender now. His full form being mauled into red liquid. I bang at the walls once they shut, screaming out gibberish words. I try to pull them open by sliding my nails through the crack in between the buildings, and for a moment I'm crazy enough to believe I can do it. I'm pulled backwards but I continue to scream.

"Let me back in there!" I roar. "He's dead because of me!"

"Dathan, he's not dead because of you. Don't feel guilty," Eden comforts me.

"He wouldn't have died if he didn't come back to save me! How do you answer that?"

She then remains silent.

A shadow casts in front of me and I look straight into Johanna's haunting eyes. I immediately stop shouting, her stare asking for my death. "If you want to be dead, I'll happily let your wish come true," she says waving her gun around in the air.

"And I have you know that I will not stop shooting until you look like swiss cheese with holes, so I recommend you pull yourself together!"

My legs begin shaking as Boniqua helps me stand up.

"In fact, if anyone wants to give up now, I'll put bullets through all your heads!" Johanna continues, now shouting even louder than I was. "We're so close to the mansion, so why give up now? If you think for one second that putting an end to your life is the best way out, you're wrong! Every single soldier that we lose, every single rebel that we lose, goes towards the Capitol taking back what is ours. And we must not stand for this!"

She then proceeds to send a bullet into the ground with her gun.

"We will make them burn for what they have done for one hundred years! We will make them burn for killing thousands of children for fun! We will make them burn for making _us _burn!"

Her voice bounces off the walls, but she's soon cut off by sounds of commotion.

"What's that?" Xanva asks.

Without letting another word slip from my mouth, I obediently hand Eden my jawt from my backpack when she requests it. She taps around on the screen and her mouth falls open. "Oh my gosh.."

"What is it?" Keeka asks.

"Around that corner is the Tribute Avenue."

The Tribute Avenue. The place we rode into the Tribute Center on our charriots. I remember it all. Even when Tranthan and Erenis got electrocuted behind Eden and I. I remember everything.

Johanna nods towards Xanva. "You said you and your team were ordered to capture the entire Tribute Avenue with the other squads there, correct?"

"Correct," he replies.

"Well.. You don't really have a squad anymore."

His mouth shakes as he tries to get his words out.

"Uh- um.. Yes. They are dead now."

"I suggest you skip the Tribute Avenue and come with us instead," Johanna says.

We begin to pace down the street quickly with Eden and Johanna tightly packed beside me. Of course, both of them are probably making sure I won't escape and do something crazy. My plans were ruined because of Ross, and now he's dead. There's no other path I can take now. No other way to give up. I _have _to stick with the team. But that still doesn't stop my thoughts of wanting to just die.

We quickly pass around a corner and I watch as Peacekeepers guard citizens as they flee their appartments. "Get back," Johanna whispers. We duck down behind the edge of a bulding and Eden takes a quick glimpse of the map on my jawt.

"They're sending them down the right pathway towards the mansion.. That immediately cancels out our only route to take."

"What about the other route? I saw a gigantic opening to the left," Boniqua says.

"That's the entrance to the Tribute Avenue. But we're not assigned to go there. We need to get to the mansion, and down that road is the only way."

Of course the one route we need to take is full of Peacekeepers. In fact, when I peek around the corner I see tons of them. Just six of us against the hundreds of Peacekeepers and Capitol citizens is asking for automatic death, which is what I wanted really. And I kind of still want it, but I've got to stick with the squad.

That's when a pair of green eyes glare at me through the dark alley across from us.

I quickly point the figure out and everyone stops whispering to stare. I barely see a hand stick out, holding three fingers. Then it switches to two. Then one..

The being jumps out and I'm relieved once I see his black, rebel uniform labelled with _'U-D2.' _But that's not all. A pack of bloodthirsty soldiers follow out from behind him shooting their guns wildly. Johanna pushes us out into the opening and yells at us to attack.

That's when I realize that they've been waiting, at least the moment I see a crowd storm out from the entrance to the Tribute Avenue. It's not just six of us all alone anymore. There's tons. Hundreds.

The colorful Capitol citizens get another shade to their extreme clothing: red. The stuff pours everywhere as the Peacekeepers begin spin around with their guns.

I feel someone shove me forward and I'm in amongst dead bodies now. My feet are glued to the ground with thick, steamy blood. I barely manage to duck under shots of guns as the rebels and Peacekeepers battle it out. I charge forward and throw my spear down the fenced-off street, the tip driving it's way into a Peacekeeper's stomach, the bullets shooting out from it and taking down more citizens.

"Move forward!" another rebel man shouts from the other squad. The first section of the street is now stained with colors. White suits. Pink wigs. Green eyelashes. But of course, everything is outshadowed by red.

Hovercrafts begin to pass through the skies, missiles taking down some of the ships while others drop bombs. The buildings behind us crumble, some by the bombs and some by the crashing rebel and Capitol hovercrafts. Down the road ahead lies another group of Peacekeepers and citizens, but there's no turning back now. Turning back only means turning back towards the rubble of fallen buildings. We're blocked in now.

"Fire!" someone screams.

I pluck my spear from out of the Peacekeeper's body and I put it back into the sheath on my back. Now I've got my gun in two hands, and I rapid fire into the group. The Peacekeepers fire back while the citizens run wild. All of the rebels charge forward, sparks from the tips of guns forming everywhere. Bullets skim past me. Bodies drop in front of me. I'm in the middle of a bloodbath. For every citizen and Peacekeeper that falls, another rebel falls too. I push through the crowd and I feel that I'm not going to make it out alive.

That's when I see some of the citizens whip out shotguns.

Of course they would have them armed when out in the streets in the middle of a war. How stupid could we have been. A bullet flys over my shoulder as I continue to fire. Plastic from bullets fly. Blood spurts everywhere. This is the time that it's Peacekeeper against Peacekeeper, citizen against citizen, rebel against rebel. No one is aiming now, me neither. Everyone is just firing aimlessly now. This is the time that even my closest of friends could kill me.

I accidently shoot a rebel from another squad in the face, a gaping hole in just underneath her left eye. But there's no time to rush over to help. No time to think about what I've just done. I sprint forward continuing to shoot. Someone wraps around my leg. I'm pulled down. Now I'm on the ground. Someone is stepping on my head. Now on my back. I'm being walked over. I scream in pain and I try to get up, but nothing's working. The feet eventually stop stomping on me, but I catch a glimpse of a Peacekeeper's white boot to my right.

Immediately, I drop my head onto the cold ground and play dead. It's hard to play dead when you're covered in sticky, clammy blood and your body is shaking mercilessly. The shots of guns continue to ring in my ears, but I manage to hear words from peoples' mouths.

"I think they're all dead.."

"We need to go forth. The City Circle is just ahead.."

"Dathan!"

Her voice pierces my ears. I instantly look up and glare into Eden's eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asks, helping me stand to my feet.

"Yeah.. I just played dead.. I'm fine."

I look at my surroundings. Pale, cream walls and slabs splashed with blood. The entire street in front of me laying beneath tons of bodies. In fact, my feet are standing in inches deep of blood. Forget the beginning of the Games. This is the _real _bloodbath.

The other squads storm on ahead while our squad stays behind.

"We must go," says Johanna. "The City Circle is at the end of this street, and so is the mansion!"

We push on forward even though we are all clearly tired. Keeka's bright, blonde hair looks like it has been dyed with a red color. We catch up with the other squads just as they enter the City Circle. A large fountain sits in the center, clear water drizzling from the top into a large pool at the bottom.

Within an instant, the firing starts up again. Peacekeepers sit on the tops of trucks shooting down at us while others launch huge missiles. The ground is torn up within seconds, gaping holes everywhere. That's when the lamp post to my left becomes apparent. There's no way to shoot past the rebels in front of us without killing them, so it's my only option.

I put my gun in one hand and wrap my other arm around the pole. I drag myself up onto the high base and I'm above the heads of the crowds. The gun is heavy, and I'm seconds from dropping it, but I manage to keep it aimed on one particular Peacekeeper. My finger begins to pull on the trigger, and that's when I see him.

The large, snow white mansion lies before the countless amounts of Peacekeepers and citizens with hovercrafts shooting over it. Behind the glass door on the marble balcony, I see him staring out.

I can almost see his snake green eyes from here.

His puffy lips.

His face that's gone through way too many sessions of plastic surgery.

I see him just before he steps backwards and fades into the darkness of the room.

* * *

**2,937 words without the Author's Note... YAY!**

**So hello everyone! What did you think of that cliffhanger?! It was quite insane, even though no one was being hurt or was dying, it was insane because Dathan finally saw... 'him' again.**

**If you liked this chapter, please leave a review! I always appreciate the support!**

**And stay tuned for the next chapter! We're coming to the end, so it's going to be intense... Also, the next chapter will be the first chapter of PART IV!**

**What is going to be the name of PART IV? I'm not sure, but I've had a few names popping around in my head for a few days now.**

**So anyway, that is it for today... Stay tuned... PART IV is coming, and so is the end to this sequel... The Puppetmaster series is coming to a close :'(**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee :)**


	22. PART IV, The Strings: Untied Part 1

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

I see the missile flying through the air. Little time to make any moves, but I manage to warn Dathan just in time. He leaps from the base of the pole just before it errupts into flames upon impact with the missile. The squads ahead of us move forward deep into the City Circle firing bullets at the Peacekeepers. The dark grey, Capitol trucks are blown sky-high as chaos unfolds in front of my eyes.

"I saw him," Dathan pants. "I saw Fraux behind that window!"

He points towards the mansion and I watch as curtains pull behind the window he's talking about. But there's no time to waste. Talking and waiting around is only asking for something bad to happen. We're at the back of the crowds so we march forward. Inside the City Circle, death is all around us. Bodies of Peacekeepers lay on top of benches and the water in the fountain in the middle is now red with blood.

The row of soldiers in front of us collapse and we step in between their limbs. I catch a glimpse of Boniqua and Xanva ahead and I know that Dathan and I aren't alone. I raise my gun and try to target Peacekeepers in between the shoulders of rebels and my gun finally rests on one. I pull on the trigger and my bullet flies, but he dodges at the last moment. Then I notice the shiny metal object behind him that my bullet bounces off. I feel like my heart has exploded inside me. I know what I have done.

I quickly glance around eyeing out every little detail in the Circle. What's going to happen now? What obstacle have we activated this time? I can't see anything just yet.

Sunset orange. Charcoal black curls and stripes swirling through the wings. The insect flutters through the air and begins to dangle above my head. The Peacekeepers around us are all dead. The only evil that remains are the crazed citizens running wild in horror, but none of them are attacking anyone.

I raise my hand up into the air and the butterfly lands on my index finger. It's wings relax and drop onto my skin, the smoothness relieving me. A sign of hope from above. A sign of peace. We're almost done. Some sort of symbol that-

The wings shoot upwards as a pain shoots through my body. I scream in terror and shake the creature off of me. My finger now has a large, plumb bubble on top, I can almost even see my blood pouring inside of it. I press down on it as it continues to largen, but that only makes the pain worse. A green goo oozes out of it as it begins to fall apart, my skin shrivelling rapidly. The pain slowly goes away as the butterfly hovers away to another group of rebels.

That's when I see another one. And another. And another.

Within seconds, they're pouring out from every direction, most of them shooting upwards from the tops of buildings.

"Run to the mansion!" I hear people scream. No Peacekeepers to fight. Only cute, innocent bugs. I grab onto Dathan's hand and I pull him forward. The wave of orange chases after us. And it's not good that we're one of the last in the group, the closest to the butterflies.

Minature hand grenades fly over our heads and into the flood of creatures behind us, their tiny bodies dropping like flies...

We pace around the fountain in the center and continue to sprint towards the mansion. I feel knives drive their way into the back of my neck and I shriek in pain. I wave my hand behind me, trying to hit them away, but they only go towards that then. I pull my hand up towards my face and I look at the boiling skin. Scorched red. Gigantic bubbles with slime pouring out. And they don't stop growing. In fact, these are bigger than the last one. I shove my gun into Dathan's hand, and with my palm I slam down onto the spots. I hear popping sounds and I roar in agony. The pain is too much to handle. I pull back and the slime drizzles from my palm and I snatch my gun back.

I immediately turn and shoot into the storm. The butterflies hover in towards me and wave their tiny legs in my face. I shove them away with my armored elbow and they drop to the ground. The soldiers in front of us turn and we crash into the crowds to safety. Now I'm pushing people forward. Bodies are falling. Feet are tripping. Screams are sending shivers down my spine from people behind us. I quickly turn and we're at the end of the crowds again. In fact, the soldiers that just turned to shoot the butterflies are barely seen meters away, their bodies on the ground covered in blisters.

I see sparks of fire up ahead and the railings in front of the mansion are torn down. Seconds later I'm stomping over the bars. I'm now in a garden filled with white roses. The smell of freshly snipped grass pierces my nostrils. The white mansion is meters away and rebels begin storming backwards.

Grenades continue to fly over my head until the butterflies remain lifeless. Soldiers fill every corner to search for other routes into the mansion whiles others chop down at the entrance. That's when I see the others. Xanva, Keeka, Boniqua, Johanna; they're all here. None of them dead. None of them even injured.

They march towards us quickly, all of them with the same blisters on their hands.

"Those creatures got us!" Keeka shrieks grasping her hand with her gun hanging from her belt. "Someone must have activated a pod.

"Yeah. Someone must have," I say without admitting anything. "We better help get inside."

Some rebels begin to storm backwards out into the City Circle and they tap away on their jawts. Hovercrafts land, dropping out fresh squads. Tons come and go as we begin to approach the mansion. The main entrance is knocked down and people storm inside. I manage to see an elaborate staircase upwards to the second floor staring out just inside.

"Dathan and Eden, you both need to get in there first. Make sure no one kills him," Johanna says. "Killing him is for his televised execution."

Of course. We've conquered the Capitol. We've got to the mansion. He's toast now. He's captured now. We have won. But...

"Finnick!" I shout.

Dathan pulls out his jawt and we look at the countdown. The same room filled with darkness. All that remains are the ropes that were weaved into holes in Finnick's body. They sit there on the ground lonely. Then the camera cuts to black. No countdown. No nothing. Just black.

I feel a rumble in the ground, but it's not right beneath my feet. Near, but not quite below me. I can sense it. I watch as a hovercraft shoots up behind the mansion and casts a shadow on the ground. Everyone including us and other rebels stare up as the Capitol seal shines down onto us. The hovercraft passes through the air and shoots off over the tops of buildings. But not for long.

Off in the distance, I see the towering Tribute Center. The biggest building in all of the Capitol. I watch as the hovercraft slowly lowers and vanishes on top of the Tribute Center's roof.

All six of us glare at each other. The other rebels look around puzzled.

"He's not in his office! He's nowhere to be found!" a rebel soldier shouts as he appears in the doorway to the mansion. Minutes that feel like hours pass and the soldiers all have the same report: the mansion is empty. Fraux's rose garden at the back of the mansion now has a huge circular hole in it leading down into the hovercraft's lair where manmade tunnels lead to a hidden exit in Fraux's office. The mansion is cleared quickly and the only people found are servants and guards who are shot immediately once put out in the garden where we stand.

"He went to the Tribute Center!" I shout. All heads turn and eyes stare at me. I step out from amongst the crowds and onto the steps leading up to the entrance.

"We all saw the hovercraft he escaped in! He escaped with Finnick! Look!"

I raise the jawt up into the air and everyone looks at the screen. All that remains is a shade of black.

"The Tribute Avenue is where Fraux must be hiding with his Peacekeepers. The mansion was only a place to lure is in and kill us with the butterflies," Dathan yells stepping up beside me.

"The Tribute Avenue is our last chance! We know where he is, so lets move onwards to get him!"

"Ready your weapons, fit your armor," I begin, "because now is the time that we fight for what we deserve. Now is the time that we take down the Capitol!"

Everyone presses three fingers to their lips and then raise their three fingers up into the air. Hundreds of them. Even more out in the City Circle.

Within minutes, hovercrafts are flying over buildings towards the Tribute Avenue after squads contact their U-Districts on their jawts.

"Follow us into battle!" I shout.

All six of us together pass through the crowds in the City Circle and make our way to the top. We begin to lead hundreds of soldiers down the street watching as more squads are dropped off by hovercrafts ahead of us. Now is the time we make our last push. Our last effort. This is it. Everywhere in the Capitol has been captured by the rebels all but the Tribute Avenue, and now all eyes are on it.

We turn at the intersection through a wide pathway in between two buildings. That's when we get to our destination.

The sunset casts long beams of light across the gigantic stretch of stone. The place we rode into the Tribute Center on chariots. We're here. On either side of us along the expansive stretch are rows and rows of seats where the citizens used to watch the parades. But not now. Not never again. Because this will end it all. This will end everything got to do with the Games. This will start a new way to live in Panem.

The Tribute Avenue is gigantic. Almost like a stadium. Past the seats begins the trails of buildings once again, and at the very end of the Tribute Avenue is the Tribute Center. We slowly approach, thousands walking together. Side by side. Hand in hand. United as a nation. In fact, everyone is holding hands but me.

I gently grab Dathan's hand with my gun slung over my shoulder and his jawt in my other hand. I refuse to look back. Only straight ahead towards Fraux's hiding place. He's finished now, and he must know.

The sunlit ground begins to fill with black shadows as feet begin to march, loud bangs echoing throughout the Avenue. Their white uniforms come into view with their guns cast in their hand. Floods of Peacekeepers storm out from inside the Tribute Center doors and stop a quarter of the way. I pause immediately and the soldiers behind me fall into me.

Rebels versus Peacekeepers. Both sides just about halfway to the middle of the Avenue. Both sides staring down the other side.

"Stop the fighting and no one will be injured!" I hear a voice call out. Then a lone figure steps forward from the crowds of Peacekeepers, the only one not wearing a helmet. The black haired man with a short beard stops. "We don't want to cause death!"

"You wanted to cause death for one hundred years! Why haven't you stopped obeying your rulers already?" I shout back. "Give up now or you will all be dead! You're outnumbered!"

"_You _give up now before you all destroy Panem!" he screams back at me. That's when Dathan steps forward.

"The only people destroying Panem have been you! You live and breath on destruction and death!"

He walks past me out into the open just feet ahead of me.

"You want to fight us, you know you do! Take down your cover already! We know who you are and what you do!"

Now he's waving his gun around in his hand, I can almost see his veins popping in his neck.

"You ruin everyone and everything! You take innocent lives for fun! You-"

I jump backwards as a spark bursts from the tip of his gun. He looks down with his mouth wide open, staring at his gun shaking, his finger loosening on the trigger. The Peacekeeper speaking to us drops face first to the ground and everyone watch as he remains still.

Dathan turns back to face me.

"I didn't... I don't know how... It was a mistake-"

Boots clatter against the ground. Guns start firing. The white uniforms begin to file towards us rapidly. They're coming, and they're angry. If they want to go down with a fight, they will get what they wish. There's no backing down now. There's no time to lose. If they want war, we will give them war.

I turn to the thousands of rebels who stand with their guns in might and I yell one word.

"Charge!"

* * *

**OH MY GOD!**

**Well hello everyone! What did you think of that crazy chapter?! And what about that cliffhanger! Big teaser ;)**

**Also welcome to PART IV, The Strings: Untied Part 1! Yes, only Part 1... ;)**

**Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did or didn't, please leave a review! I love the support ;D**

**Also, I think you can tell from this chapter that this story is coming to a big end. Can you wait?! It's going to be exciting!**

**Anyways, don't forget to stay tuned for the next chapter! I can't confirm the official number of remaining chapters, but let's just say that there's going to be very few. And when I say very few, I mean less than five... :(**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	23. Untied Part 2

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Rebels form around me and yells fill the air. I fire my gun at the Peacekeepers as they attack and bullets bounce off of my armor. The entire stretch of the Tribute Avenue used to be empty and sunny, but now fights ensue. The rebels push forward and so do I, my squad standing beside me. Xanva, Boniqua, Keeka, Johanna and Eden. All here. None harmed or injured.

The rebels push onwards and the Peacekeepers fall back. Helmets come off. Suits burst open from bullets. Blood pours everywhere.

Our guns scare the remaining Peacekeepers left and they run backwards firing bullets at us. A few rebels fall dead to the ground, but we've outnumbered them. They sprint backwards towards the Tribute Center ready to escape.

"Hurry! Don't let them get away!" Eden roars. Hundreds. Thousands. All firing guns. All sprinting down a massive walkway. Off to either side of me and see hundreds of rebels storming through the fenced off seats, storming into the Tribute Center at the side. But this is it. It all ends now.

The sunlight is blocked out by our black waves of shadows. The guns keep firing, and when The Peacekeepers eventually flee from the center of the Avenue, I see another metal structure. Another one. Another pod. The Peacekeepers begin to flood into the Tribute Center when I feel the moisture tickle my socks. Completely wet. Standing in puddles. I look down and watch as a black goo runs down the Tribute Avenue. Glancing backwards, I watch as a gigantic wave of the black tar liquid pours from out the top of buildings on down tiny streets, walls closing us in to prevent any of it from escaping.

"A mysterious, black liquid. Used in the second rebellion," Keeka pants. "I recognize it from examples Kit gave me back in U-District 4!"

She immediately cuts off then. The wave splashes over the entire Avenue, completely smothering rebels. Cries fill the air. It looks toxic, whatever it is. I'm already guessing a single touch means instant death. The foul stench of it pierces my nostrils but I charge on.

"Come on!" I roar.

The liquid begins to rise to about an inch under my feet. Clammy and sticky. It's causing my feet to slow down. It's almost like it's pulling me back. Eden latches onto my arm and yanks me forward onto the clean surface ahead. I watch as the liquid on my feet immediately hardens into a crust enveloping my shoes, only to soon crack and scatter on the ground.

Everyone behind me starts yelling and screaming. Within seconds I feel hands pressed against my back shoving me forward. I glimpse back and I see the wave just behind. Towering upwards like a skyscraper. Blocking out all sunlight. It collapses down onto rebels who shriek in pain and it splashes forward. I duck down as the liquid sprays over my head and I feel it in my hair. I run my fingers through my locks and I feel it harden immediately. I manage to scatter most of it out, but some still remains.

I leap over puddles of the substance as the rebels behind me keep panicking. "Hurry! Go!" I hear the voices yell. The liquid appears on either side of me spiraling upwards in the air. Eden tugs me forward against and my shadow casts against the ground. I know I'm safe now. Out of the wave's reach. But that doesn't mean the others aren't.

Within seconds the rebels go from sprinting to racing like a car. I'm shoved forward again and we're now at the Tribute Center. I fire my gun at the Peacekeepers storming inside and I trample over their bodies, some dead and some alive but barely breathing. My bullets take down windows and glass doors, and soon enough we're flooding into the lobby of the Tribute Center.

I glance back and watch as the wave thins out and slowly hardens into the familiar crust, bumps in the layer being the dead bodies of rebels. Only few Peacekeepers remain after the wave, and most are taken out in the lobby. The rebels run wild, going on a rampage through every hallway and some going up in the elevator. I look back and I see the others, but one is missing.

"Where's Xanva?" Eden asks. Johanna shakes her head. "That's easy to guess. Caught in that tar. We need to push on now!"

Me and Eden lead the group over to a doorway guarded by two Peacekeepers. Our bullets bring them down to the floor and we shoot open the lock. Boniqua opens the door ajar and tosses in a small hand grenade, shutting the door after. We wait for seconds until we hear the explosion and she opens the door back up. To our surprise, three Peacekeepers lay on the ground twitching, their helmets smashing in with chunks of the walls and the floor gone.

We march past them down the snow white hallway to find another door. We repeat the same process again with the hand grenade. When we open the door up, we find a lab of some sorts. Tables and desks filled with all sorts of paperwork. Bottles filled with weird, colorful liquids. Coathangers with white jackets. Boxes of scientific goggles. We try to ignore the stuff and pass through the maze of desks in this wide, open room.

We pass through the room through another doorway into a small room where about eight cells lay. Rusty bars shooting up from the ground into the roof, some of the doors to the cells open.

"What is this place?" Keeka asks, but no one answers. I shrug. This place is weird. Something evil lurks in here, I can just feel it.

At the back of this room is a door labelled _'STAFF ONLY - OFF LIMITS!' _fit with the Capitol seal underneath. Everyone looks at each other and then back at the door. Boniqua gets another grenade from her backpack and Johanna sets it alight with her lighter. She quickly opens the door, tosses the grenade in and slams the door shut.

"Get back!" I hear a man's voice yell. A familiar voice. I've heard it before.

We look at each other again and I can read their minds. We're all thinking the same thing. We all know who it is. I automatically leap forward and push the door open. We scurry in and we see him. Standing tall in might. Gaping holes through his arms and legs. Bruises on his face. The same golden-brown hair.

My lips form his name and I'm about to shout it, but all I can get out is "Fin-"

Because when I look at him in his deep, green eyes, I see something behind him. Something weird. Something unsual. My eyes rest on it and I stare even more. But this is not real. This is not possible. This is _impossible_.

"Oh my god," Eden whispers. And those exact three words are what are bouncing around in my head right now.

_Oh my god._

* * *

**Possibly the biggest cliffhanger of this story? If not, it's one of the biggest cliffhangers anyway. That was insane.**

**Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please leave a review! I always appreciate the support :)**

**And yes, this was a very short chapter. But that's all because I wanted this EXACT cliffhanger. It was too perfect! And what about that black wave? If you don't know already, that was the wave in Mockingjay Part 2! As explained by Keeka, it was in the second rebellion.**

**Well anyway guys and gals, I hope you all stay tuned for the next chapter! The opening of the next chapter is going to be INSANEEEEEE OMG it is the reveal of the cliffhanger! Besides, the whole of the next chapter is going to be insane! You MUST read it, okay?**

**Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee :)**


	24. Untied Part 3

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

My grasp loosens and my gun drops to the ground with a thud. I run towards him and crash into his arms, him letting out a groan. "Don't worry. You're safe now..." I whisper. I feel his hand spread across the back of my head. "It's okay Finnick.."

I pull back and I stare at his big smile. Pleased, he looks. But it's so horrific. After everything he's gone through. After all the pain he tackled, he is still smiling at the end of it all. In fact, it's not until he turns around that I see the large, purple bruise covering his neck.

I step to the side and look down at what I was just shocked at a moment ago.

Jet black hair. Long locks dangling down on his face. Sitting back in a wheelchair with some sort of notepad and a pen resting on his knees. His arms folded. Staring at me with his deep, brown eyes. I know him. I've seen him before. I've _fought _him before.

It can't be him, but his presence is too real to fake. It _is _him, but it's seemingly impossible.

"Guys, I know you're probably shocked right now. But I can explain," Finnick begins as he approaches the boy. "Say hello to Ole."

Ole.

District One's male tribute in the Games. The boy that should be dead right now. The boy that was on the beanstalk as we chopped it down. It's not possible, but he's here now.

I try to get words out of my mouth, but none will form.

"He didn't die.." Finnick says. "It's not until I was abducted by that hovercraft back at U-District 4 that I found out the truth... He made it to the top of the beanstalk onto the cloud before it was cut down. But rubble from the explosion of the forcefield injured his back, putting him into that wheelchair..."

Ole suddenly picks up his notepad and his pen and flips over a few pages. He writes something down and then turns the pad around.

_That's the truth._

That's all that is written on the paper. Three little words. _That's the truth._

And it's not until I see the words that I know what has happened to him.

"They cut his tounge out."

Finnick nods and Ole writes down something else on the paper.

_Yes._

"We used to stay in an underground bunker at Fraux's mansion, but less than an hour ago they brought us here. They trapped us in this room without saying another word and left us here to do nothing. And-"

Within an instant, Keeka and Boniqua are screaming at something to my left. I spin and watch as Dathan collapses to the ground, his hands raised and shaking mercilessly. I drop to my knees and hover over his body.

"I can't do this..." I hear him whisper under the screams of terror. "I want it over..."

"Dathan you need to pull through! We're coming to the end now. We need to stick together!" I exclaim clutching onto one of his hands.

"Please! Don't give up now. Do it for your family. Do it for me!" Suddenly, his eyes turn and glare at me.

"Eden, all I wanted to do was protect you.. In the Games to this war, I just wanted you safe. But that hasn't happened. Your family is dead because of me!"

His riverbanks burst and tears begin spiraling down his face rapidly.

"I caused this all! I didn't mean it!"

I grab him and prop him up, making him kneel on the floor. I cover my hands around his ears and whisper to him.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Dathan. You have done nothing but help me and-"

"But I killed Ross! I killed them all and it's my fault!"

"Dathan, you didn't kill my family either," I say no longer whispering into his ear. "Fraux killed my family..."

His crying halts and he looks at me into my eyes.

"...and Fraux kill yours too."

He firmly grabs onto my free hand.

"Come on Dathan. We need to get him. This is our final push..."

He pauses. The silence in the room unbearable. Keeka and Boniqua no longer screaming. Even a pin drop could be heard. Then he mutters a sentence out into the open.

"Let's kill that bastard..."

I stand him up and we all stare at Finnick and Ole.

"So what has happened while I was here?" Finnick asks.

"Well we have taken over the whole Capitol now, but the only thing left to do is hunt for Fraux. Then-"

Ole immediately begins to scribble down words onto his notepad and he holds it up afterwards.

_I heard people say he is on the top floor._

We all look at one another. "Let's go get him then before anyone else does!" I exclaim.

Johanna uses Dathan's jawt and sends a message to U-District 4 asking for a hovercraft, claiming that she had found Finnick. A voice calls out through the jawt and says the hovercraft will be out the front of the Tribute Center in exactly one minute.

Immediately, we begin to pass through the doorways again, Dathan and I holding onto Finnick up the front who moans in pain while he runs as Johanna pushes Ole forward on his wheelchair at the back.

Just above the spot where I latch onto Finnick's hand is a grisly hole straight through his arm leaking out drops of blood. One of the various holes used to tie him up and hang him like a puppet. "Not so fast!" he yells followed by a moan.

We pass through the last door and over the Peacekeepers' bodies into the lobby. Rebels still run around crazily while others tap away on their jawts. I look forward towards the door and see groups of rebels outside with hovercrafts everywhere on the ground and in the sky. I know we're safe and the hovercraft probably awaits outside already ready to pick Finnick and Ole up.

Gasps fill the air as everyone stops to look at us.

"It's Finnick!"

"Who is that in the wheelchair?"

"That looks like Ole!"

"What are those creatures?!"

That last sentence makes my heart drop. I look up and watch as something outside smothers the rebels. I manage to see some eyes. Then massive mouths filled with tons of slimey, sharp teeth. Tall in size with arched backs. Moist scales dripping with some sort of horrible, green goo. Large, webbed-feet crushing the rebels into the ground.

There's at least more than twenty of the creatures, all going crazy chasing towards people.

"Lizard mutts. Used in the second rebellion," Keeka says.

Lizards. That's what they look like.

But these things aren't here to play. They look _insane._ Taking huge bites of flesh out of rebels outside. Walking over one another without any care. I even think I see one of the mutts chewing off another mutt's leg. They're not here as a team. They're just here to eat whatever they can. But I've not got much more time to think.

The glass doors and windows shatter on top of us as the creatures flood in sending ear-wrenching sounds into the air. I immediately start pull Finnick forward towards the elevator and I hope the others are behind, because if they aren't, it doesn't matter. There will be no time to save them.

I slam on a button and the doors slide open. We pile inside rapidly leaving barely any space and I hit on the button that is labelled 'LEVEL 30 - TOP FLOOR -', but Keeka remains outside trying to push us in further for more space. "Move!" she shrieks as the doors begin to shut, but there's simply no more space for her to get in.

The doors close on her just as the mutts get to her. I look down at the glass floor as we shoot upwards, watching as she is completely savaged. One moment she's in one piece. Next moment her arm is flung against the wall and her leg is going down one of the mutt's throat on the other side of the room. But it's not just her. It's the same with everyone else. The entire ground floor is now a sea of red. President Fraux plays with puppets, but right now he is playing with body parts.

"Look out!"

Someone in the elevator screams it, and I look up to see more of the mutts clinging onto dear life on the outside. Their hands smearing slime and them roaring at us up against the glass.

Large claws unleash and they scrape on the outside to get in with us. I hear their raspy voices from inside and I know that this is not going to end well. Scrambling at us like they're going to die if they don't get our blood, the elevator shatters just as we reach level twenty six. Glass pierces into my neck, but I've got no time to mess around. I shoot the glass doors open just as the mutts land inside. Most fall of the edge, but not all. We speed down the hallway towards the staircase leading upwards with Ole and Johanna trailing behind.

I quickly turn and shoot at the mutts, but one manages to latch onto Johanna and tugs at her. I sprint backwards and leap onto its back, pulling it's mouth upwards to let go. Teeth digging into her amor that seems to be no match for them, I pull as hard as I can as she screams.

Like a mouse trap snapping shut on a mouse, the mutt refuses to let go. I can't pull back for much longer but I manage to hold up my gun in one hand. I press it against the lizard's scalp and pull on the trigger. Guts and blood blow up in my face and I'm completely covered.

My black uniform now has a nasty shade of red to it. In fact, me and Johanna look like we've both been skinned. My feet slip in the must but I manage to stand back up. I fire down the hall as more begin to crawl towards us towering on top of each other, some even running on the walls. The walls. That's when they blow up. Bricks fly and the walls come down, only unleashing another group of the mutts to chase us.

It all makes sense now. The walls _contain _them.

Johanna begins to push Ole's wheelchair and I sprint back up ahead. We scurry into the stairwell, and luckily we find a wheelchair ramp. Me, Dathan, Finnick and Boniqua on the left running up the stairs while only Johanna and Ole remain on the other side of the bars on the wheelchair ramp.

I look back and watch as the mutts pour in through the door and begin scrambling up the stairs. Then the steps begin to cave in. Dropping downwards onto the floor below us, the steps behind us begin to fall just moments after we touch them. I push Boniqua forward who blocks my way and I just manage to see a sign saying _'FLOOR 27.'_

Only three more floors to go, but I'm not sure if we'll make it.

We pass the door that leads onto floor twenty seven and we continue up the next set of stairs. The mutts are approaching quickly and the steps behind them continue to drop. But now the creatures are dangerously close. I begin to sprint as fast as I can, pushing past Boniqua and getting beside Finnick and Dathan. We make it to floor twenty eight and continue upwards.

I glance back quickly and watch as the mutts begin running on the railings. If I stop to breathe for half a second, I'm toast.

Floor twenty nine. Just a few more steps and we will be here. "Go!" I shout at the top of my voice. I latch onto Finnick's hand and speed onwards, dragging him behind me.

"Wait!" I hear a voice yell. But it's too late by then.

I make it to floor thirty just as I'm dragged backwards. I don't even need to look back to know what's happening. It's either me going down or just him.

I let go of his hand and grab onto the handrails to steady myself and I look down at the pile of mutts. The steps have stopped falling and only a few steps remain, but looking down through the stairwell just shows an empty space.

Claws dig into his chin, blood spurting out and down the mutts' fingers. A large mouth opens bearing the razor sharp teeth. Then it launches down onto his face.

Next thing I know my hand is reaching out.

Dathan's jawt is in my hand.

I'm tapping on the screen.

I hit the big, red button.

It's no longer in my hands.

Flying through the air.

In the pile of mutts.

I'm knocked backwards.

Rubble flys over my head.

Fire blazes all around me.

I hear the mutts scream for one last time.

Then I hear _him _scream.

He's gone.

But I'm still alive some how. On the ground, crawling towards the exit. I briefly see Dathan just behind me and a steel bar moving towards me. Must be the wheelchair. They're alive. But _he _is not.

I don't have time to think what I've just done. Fire ripples through the air just as I make it out the door. Floor thirty.

Smoke begins to fill my lungs and I cough heavily. I make it to my feet. Gun in one hand. Hair singed. Layers of ash building on the carpet. I stumble forward as the smoke blocks most of my vision, but I'm barely able to see rows of doors to my left and right.

"Keep going..." I hear someone choke out behind. And that's what I do.

I shoot a bullet straight ahead that lights up the air. For less than a second, I see doors. Two bi-fold doors towering up ahead. I run as fast I can and smash into them weakly. I look back and see figures approaching, but one is already at my side. Boniqua.

I pull on the handles and push harsly. They open up with a loud creak and a bullet enters Boniqua's forehead. She drops to the ground by my feet, but I've got no time to help her. I see him. Spiked black hair and the same puffy lips. This time he wields a hand gun.

I raise my gun immediately.

"Drop your gun or get shot!" I shout.

Then I hear his awful laugh. Disgusting. Sounds like a frog in his throat.

"What have I got to lose now when everything is falling apart? You'll end up just like her."

A bullet spins towards me and bounces off my armor, spiraling backwards into the wall.

"You've come prepared I see," he says.

Johanna and Ole arrive and I order them to stay outside while me and Dathan slowly step inside.

"You've made it far, Ms. O'Shea and Mr. Lynn. In fact, you've escaped from your strings..." he says stepping backwards behind his desk and out onto the balcony. "Welcome to my office."

"You deserved this, Fraux. You just continued what Snow was doing, killing kids in an arena every year for fun," I say.

"It was more than that!" he bites back. "My step-father did that for fun, but Snow must always fall. I do it to keep my puppets hanging from my strings..."

* * *

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Like father like son. Both mental and both crazy. Except this time the son is just bonkers. I don't think anyone in Panem knew that Fraux was his step-son. At least I didn't.

"You don't control us anymore. We're not just your puppets!" I shout.

"Silly boy, Dathan. You _are _merely puppets on my strings... But now you have untied," Fraux says.

Eden slowly begins to step forward as Fraux steps back further on his balcony.

"All it took was for Ole's mother to die during his Reaping..." he whispers. "But he's gone now. He never knew what he started..."

"He's not gone!" I scream. "We found him already! You have been hiding him for no reason!"

"Dathan, you're just so silly..." Fraux continues. "Keeping the cause of the rebellion dead would hopefully kill the rebellion. But apparently that's not the case..."

"Your time is up. This is where it all ends," Eden says continuing to step towards him.

"Yes," Fraux says.

"My time as the Puppetmaster is over. You have been freed from your strings. But no matter what, there will be no strings on me."

I know what he's doing, and I'm not going to give him the chance to do it. Justice must be served, and it will be served. He's not going to get the easy way out or the way he wants out. He will die in our hands.

Immediately, I grab my spear from my sheath and throw it through the air. Just as he tries to leap from the edge of his balcony, my spear enters his chest. His eyes widen. Blood seeping through his white shirt. He stares at me and yanks the spear out from his chest, dropping it to the floor beneath his feet just before his body tilts backwards off the ledge. Dead.

But my mind has just gone blank after what I just watched happen.

As my spear flew through the air, eventually impaling Fraux, the bullets sprayed out like always.

And one entered Eden's forehead.

* * *

**Yes, I just did that to Finnick.**

**Yes, that was the worst part of the Mockingjay book.**

**Yes, you can slap me if you want.**

**Yes, biggest cliffhanger of this story.**

**Yes, Ole.**

**Yes, yes.**

**Yes, no.**

**Hello everyone!**

**Am I allowed to speak to you guys or am I banned from FanFiction forever for doing something... so evil? There was A LOT that happened in this chapter! First, what did you think of Ole?! Were you shocked?! What about the lizard mutts? Some of you might have known what was coming... And it was ironic. Simply because they killed Finnick xD What were you thinking while reading it?!**

**Also, Keeka and Boniqua died! What did you think of their deaths? Keeka simply couldn't fit into the elevator as there was no space and got eaten but Boniqua got surprise attacked by Fraux!**

**Also, do I need to speak about that ending? I feel like I shouldn't, simply because that was the cruelest thing I have ever done... Yes, I'm not going to speak about it. I'm a horrible person... BUT YOU CAN SPEAK ABOUT IT IN A REVIEW! :D**

**If you liked this chapter (or disliked it. You have every right to. Lol), leave a review! I appreciate the support like always!**

**This chapter was INSANE!&amp;*^$£?!"£$%^&amp;*()_+ **

**So what did you think?**

**Stay tuned for the next one... It's going to be an aftermath-type chapter. Will it be the last one? I'm not sure. But IF it isn't the last one, it will be the second last one.**

**I'm honestly not sure just yet. In fact, it probably will be the last one. IN FACT, it WILL be the last one. I literally just made up my mind while writing this. Lol.**

**Stay tuned for the LAST chapter of The Puppetmaster's Strings! :(**

**This has been an incredible journey and it's all coming to an end...**

**Thank you so much for reading, *deep breath* byeeeeeee :')**


	25. The End

**Eden O'Shea/D4F/17:**

My grasp loosens and my gun drops to the ground with a thud. I run towards him and crash into his arms, him letting out a groan. "Don't worry. You're safe now..." I whisper. I feel his hand spread across the back of my head. "It's okay Finnick.."

I pull back and I stare at his big smile. Pleased, he looks. But it's so horrific. After everything he's gone through. After all the pain he tackled, he is still smiling at the end of it all. In fact, it's not until he turns around that I see the large, purple bruise covering his neck.

I step to the side and look down at what I was just shocked at a moment ago.

Jet black hair. Long locks dangling down on his face. Sitting back in a wheelchair with some sort of notepad and a pen resting on his knees. His arms folded. Staring at me with his deep, brown eyes. I know him. I've seen him before. I've _fought _him before.

It can't be him, but his presence is too real to fake. It _is _him, but it's seemingly impossible.

"Guys, I know you're probably shocked right now. But I can explain," Finnick begins as he approaches the boy. "Say hello to Ole."

Ole.

District One's male tribute in the Games. The boy that should be dead right now. The boy that was on the beanstalk as we chopped it down. It's not possible, but he's here now.

I try to get words out of my mouth, but none will form.

"He didn't die.." Finnick says. "It's not until I was abducted by that hovercraft back at U-District 4 that I found out the truth... He made it to the top of the beanstalk onto the cloud before it was cut down. But rubble from the explosion of the forcefield injured his back, putting him into that wheelchair..."

Ole suddenly picks up his notepad and his pen and flips over a few pages. He writes something down and then turns the pad around.

_That's the truth._

That's all that is written on the paper. Three little words. _That's the truth._

And it's not until I see the words that I know what has happened to him.

"They cut his tounge out."

Finnick nods and Ole writes down something else on the paper.

_Yes._

"We used to stay in an underground bunker at Fraux's mansion, but less than an hour ago they brought us here. They trapped us in this room without saying another word and left us here to do nothing. And-"

Within an instant, Keeka and Boniqua are screaming at something to my left. I spin and watch as Dathan collapses to the ground, his hands raised and shaking mercilessly. I drop to my knees and hover over his body.

"I can't do this..." I hear him whisper under the screams of terror. "I want it over..."

"Dathan you need to pull through! We're coming to the end now. We need to stick together!" I exclaim clutching onto one of his hands.

"Please! Don't give up now. Do it for your family. Do it for me!" Suddenly, his eyes turn and glare at me.

"Eden, all I wanted to do was protect you.. In the Games to this war, I just wanted you safe. But that hasn't happened. Your family is dead because of me!"

His riverbanks burst and tears begin spiraling down his face rapidly.

"I caused this all! I didn't mean it!"

I grab him and prop him up, making him kneel on the floor. I cover my hands around his ears and whisper to him.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Dathan. You have done nothing but help me and-"

"But I killed Ross! I killed them all and it's my fault!"

"Dathan, you didn't kill my family either," I say no longer whispering into his ear. "Fraux killed my family..."

His crying halts and he looks at me into my eyes.

"...and Fraux kill yours too."

He firmly grabs onto my free hand.

"Come on Dathan. We need to get him. This is our final push..."

He pauses. The silence in the room unbearable. Keeka and Boniqua no longer screaming. Even a pin drop could be heard. Then he mutters a sentence out into the open.

"Let's kill that bastard..."

I stand him up and we all stare at Finnick and Ole.

"So what has happened while I was here?" Finnick asks.

"Well we have taken over the whole Capitol now, but the only thing left to do is hunt for Fraux. Then-"

Ole immediately begins to scribble down words onto his notepad and he holds it up afterwards.

_I heard people say he is on the top floor._

We all look at one another. "Let's go get him then before anyone else does!" I exclaim.

Johanna uses Dathan's jawt and sends a message to U-District 4 asking for a hovercraft, claiming that she had found Finnick. A voice calls out through the jawt and says the hovercraft will be out the front of the Tribute Center in exactly one minute.

Immediately, we begin to pass through the doorways again, Dathan and I holding onto Finnick up the front who moans in pain while he runs as Johanna pushes Ole forward on his wheelchair at the back.

Just above the spot where I latch onto Finnick's hand is a grisly hole straight through his arm leaking out drops of blood. One of the various holes used to tie him up and hang him like a puppet. "Not so fast!" he yells followed by a moan.

We pass through the last door and over the Peacekeepers' bodies into the lobby. Rebels still run around crazily while others tap away on their jawts. I look forward towards the door and see groups of rebels outside with hovercrafts everywhere on the ground and in the sky. I know we're safe and the hovercraft probably awaits outside already ready to pick Finnick and Ole up.

Gasps fill the air as everyone stops to look at us.

"It's Finnick!"

"Who is that in the wheelchair?"

"That looks like Ole!"

"What are those creatures?!"

That last sentence makes my heart drop. I look up and watch as something outside smothers the rebels. I manage to see some eyes. Then massive mouths filled with tons of slimey, sharp teeth. Tall in size with arched backs. Moist scales dripping with some sort of horrible, green goo. Large, webbed-feet crushing the rebels into the ground.

There's at least more than twenty of the creatures, all going crazy chasing towards people.

"Lizard mutts. Used in the second rebellion," Keeka says.

Lizards. That's what they look like.

But these things aren't here to play. They look _insane._ Taking huge bites of flesh out of rebels outside. Walking over one another without any care. I even think I see one of the mutts chewing off another mutt's leg. They're not here as a team. They're just here to eat whatever they can. But I've not got much more time to think.

The glass doors and windows shatter on top of us as the creatures flood in sending ear-wrenching sounds into the air. I immediately start pull Finnick forward towards the elevator and I hope the others are behind, because if they aren't, it doesn't matter. There will be no time to save them.

I slam on a button and the doors slide open. We pile inside rapidly leaving barely any space and I hit on the button that is labelled 'LEVEL 30 - TOP FLOOR -', but Keeka remains outside trying to push us in further for more space. "Move!" she shrieks as the doors begin to shut, but there's simply no more space for her to get in.

The doors close on her just as the mutts get to her. I look down at the glass floor as we shoot upwards, watching as she is completely savaged. One moment she's in one piece. Next moment her arm is flung against the wall and her leg is going down one of the mutt's throat on the other side of the room. But it's not just her. It's the same with everyone else. The entire ground floor is now a sea of red. President Fraux plays with puppets, but right now he is playing with body parts.

"Look out!"

Someone in the elevator screams it, and I look up to see more of the mutts clinging onto dear life on the outside. Their hands smearing slime and them roaring at us up against the glass.

Large claws unleash and they scrape on the outside to get in with us. I hear their raspy voices from inside and I know that this is not going to end well. Scrambling at us like they're going to die if they don't get our blood, the elevator shatters just as we reach level twenty six. Glass pierces into my neck, but I've got no time to mess around. I shoot the glass doors open just as the mutts land inside. Most fall of the edge, but not all. We speed down the hallway towards the staircase leading upwards with Ole and Johanna trailing behind.

I quickly turn and shoot at the mutts, but one manages to latch onto Johanna and tugs at her. I sprint backwards and leap onto its back, pulling it's mouth upwards to let go. Teeth digging into her amor that seems to be no match for them, I pull as hard as I can as she screams.

Like a mouse trap snapping shut on a mouse, the mutt refuses to let go. I can't pull back for much longer but I manage to hold up my gun in one hand. I press it against the lizard's scalp and pull on the trigger. Guts and blood blow up in my face and I'm completely covered.

My black uniform now has a nasty shade of red to it. In fact, me and Johanna look like we've both been skinned. My feet slip in the must but I manage to stand back up. I fire down the hall as more begin to crawl towards us towering on top of each other, some even running on the walls. The walls. That's when they blow up. Bricks fly and the walls come down, only unleashing another group of the mutts to chase us.

It all makes sense now. The walls _contain _them.

Johanna begins to push Ole's wheelchair and I sprint back up ahead. We scurry into the stairwell, and luckily we find a wheelchair ramp. Me, Dathan, Finnick and Boniqua on the left running up the stairs while only Johanna and Ole remain on the other side of the bars on the wheelchair ramp.

I look back and watch as the mutts pour in through the door and begin scrambling up the stairs. Then the steps begin to cave in. Dropping downwards onto the floor below us, the steps behind us begin to fall just moments after we touch them. I push Boniqua forward who blocks my way and I just manage to see a sign saying _'FLOOR 27.'_

Only three more floors to go, but I'm not sure if we'll make it.

We pass the door that leads onto floor twenty seven and we continue up the next set of stairs. The mutts are approaching quickly and the steps behind them continue to drop. But now the creatures are dangerously close. I begin to sprint as fast as I can, pushing past Boniqua and getting beside Finnick and Dathan. We make it to floor twenty eight and continue upwards.

I glance back quickly and watch as the mutts begin running on the railings. If I stop to breathe for half a second, I'm toast.

Floor twenty nine. Just a few more steps and we will be here. "Go!" I shout at the top of my voice. I latch onto Finnick's hand and speed onwards, dragging him behind me.

"Wait!" I hear a voice yell. But it's too late by then.

I make it to floor thirty just as I'm dragged backwards. I don't even need to look back to know what's happening. It's either me going down or just him.

I let go of his hand and grab onto the handrails to steady myself and I look down at the pile of mutts. The steps have stopped falling and only a few steps remain, but looking down through the stairwell just shows an empty space.

Claws dig into his chin, blood spurting out and down the mutts' fingers. A large mouth opens bearing the razor sharp teeth. Then it launches down onto his face.

Next thing I know my hand is reaching out.

Dathan's jawt is in my hand.

I'm tapping on the screen.

I hit the big, red button.

It's no longer in my hands.

Flying through the air.

In the pile of mutts.

I'm knocked backwards.

Rubble flys over my head.

Fire blazes all around me.

I hear the mutts scream for one last time.

Then I hear _him _scream.

He's gone.

But I'm still alive some how. On the ground, crawling towards the exit. I briefly see Dathan just behind me and a steel bar moving towards me. Must be the wheelchair. They're alive. But _he _is not.

I don't have time to think what I've just done. Fire ripples through the air just as I make it out the door. Floor thirty.

Smoke begins to fill my lungs and I cough heavily. I make it to my feet. Gun in one hand. Hair singed. Layers of ash building on the carpet. I stumble forward as the smoke blocks most of my vision, but I'm barely able to see rows of doors to my left and right.

"Keep going..." I hear someone choke out behind. And that's what I do.

I shoot a bullet straight ahead that lights up the air. For less than a second, I see doors. Two bi-fold doors towering up ahead. I run as fast I can and smash into them weakly. I look back and see figures approaching, but one is already at my side. Boniqua.

I pull on the handles and push harsly. They open up with a loud creak and a bullet enters Boniqua's forehead. She drops to the ground by my feet, but I've got no time to help her. I see him. Spiked black hair and the same puffy lips. This time he wields a hand gun.

I raise my gun immediately.

"Drop your gun or get shot!" I shout.

Then I hear his awful laugh. Disgusting. Sounds like a frog in his throat.

"What have I got to lose now when everything is falling apart? You'll end up just like her."

A bullet spins towards me and bounces off my armor, spiraling backwards into the wall.

"You've come prepared I see," he says.

Johanna and Ole arrive and I order them to stay outside while me and Dathan slowly step inside.

"You've made it far, Ms. O'Shea and Mr. Lynn. In fact, you've escaped from your strings..." he says stepping backwards behind his desk and out onto the balcony. "Welcome to my office."

"You deserved this, Fraux. You just continued what Snow was doing, killing kids in an arena every year for fun," I say.

"It was more than that!" he bites back. "My step-father did that for fun, but Snow must always fall. I do it to keep my puppets hanging from my strings..."

* * *

**Dathan Lynn/D4M/17:**

Like father like son. Both mental and both crazy. Except this time the son is just bonkers. I don't think anyone in Panem knew that Fraux was his step-son. At least I didn't.

"You don't control us anymore. We're not just your puppets!" I shout.

"Silly boy, Dathan. You _are _merely puppets on my strings... But now you have untied," Fraux says.

Eden slowly begins to step forward as Fraux steps back further on his balcony.

"All it took was for Ole's mother to die during his Reaping..." he whispers. "But he's gone now. He never knew what he started..."

"He's not gone!" I scream. "We found him already! You have been hiding him for no reason!"

"Dathan, you're just so silly..." Fraux continues. "Keeping the cause of the rebellion dead would hopefully kill the rebellion. But apparently that's not the case..."

"Your time is up. This is where it all ends," Eden says continuing to step towards him.

"Yes," Fraux says.

"My time as the Puppetmaster is over. You have been freed from your strings. But no matter what, there will be no strings on me."

I know what he's doing, and I'm not going to give him the chance to do it. Justice must be served, and it will be served. He's not going to get the easy way out or the way he wants out. He will die in our hands.

Immediately, I grab my spear from my sheath and throw it through the air. Just as he tries to leap from the edge of his balcony, my spear enters his chest. His eyes widen. Blood seeping through his white shirt. He stares at me and yanks the spear out from his chest, dropping it to the floor beneath his feet just before his body tilts backwards off the ledge. Dead.

But my mind has just gone blank after what I just watched happen.

As my spear flew through the air, eventually impaling Fraux, the bullets sprayed out like always.

And one entered Eden's forehead.

* * *

**Yes, I just did that to Finnick.**

**Yes, that was the worst part of the Mockingjay book.**

**Yes, you can slap me if you want.**

**Yes, biggest cliffhanger of this story.**

**Yes, Ole.**

**Yes, yes.**

**Yes, no.**

**Hello everyone!**

**Am I allowed to speak to you guys or am I banned from FanFiction forever for doing something... so evil? There was A LOT that happened in this chapter! First, what did you think of Ole?! Were you shocked?! What about the lizard mutts? Some of you might have known what was coming... And it was ironic. Simply because they killed Finnick xD What were you thinking while reading it?!**

**Also, Keeka and Boniqua died! What did you think of their deaths? Keeka simply couldn't fit into the elevator as there was no space and got eaten but Boniqua got surprise attacked by Fraux!**

**Also, do I need to speak about that ending? I feel like I shouldn't, simply because that was the cruelest thing I have ever done... Yes, I'm not going to speak about it. I'm a horrible person... BUT YOU CAN SPEAK ABOUT IT IN A REVIEW! :D**

**If you liked this chapter (or disliked it. You have every right to. Lol), leave a review! I appreciate the support like always!**

**This chapter was INSANE!&amp;*^$£?!"£$%^&amp;*()_+ **

**So what did you think?**

**Stay tuned for the next one... It's going to be an aftermath-type chapter. Will it be the last one? I'm not sure. But IF it isn't the last one, it will be the second last one.**

**I'm honestly not sure just yet. In fact, it probably will be the last one. IN FACT, it WILL be the last one. I literally just made up my mind while writing this. Lol.**

**Stay tuned for the LAST chapter of The Puppetmaster's Strings! :(**

**This has been an incredible journey and it's all coming to an end...**

**Thank you so much for reading, *deep breath* byeeeeeee :')**


End file.
